Alexander Gottschalk is Professor of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology at the

Goethe University Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

in Frankfurt, Germany.

Scientific career

Alexander Gottschalk studied chemistry, biochemistry and immunology at

in Frankfurt, Philipps University in Marburg and

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, UK. His PhD thesis (Dr. rer. nat.) was conducted in the laboratory of Reinhard Lührmann at the University of Marburg. As a postdoctoral fellow, he worked with William R. Schafer at UC San Diego to study the nervous system of ''

Caenorhabditis elegans ''Caenorhabditis elegans'' () is a free-living transparent nematode about 1 mm in length that lives in temperate soil environments. It is the type species of its genus. The name is a Hybrid word, blend of the Greek ''caeno-'' (recent), ''r ...

''. In 2004, he became an independent research group leader in Frankfurt. In 2010, he was awarded a Heisenberg-Professor position and became Full Professor for Molecular Cell Biology and Neurobiochemistry in 2016. His researc
group
is located at the Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences.

Research

Alexander Gottschalk studies the neuronal control of behavior in the nematode ''

''. In 2005, he demonstrated that neuronal expression of the light-gated channel Channelrhodpsin-2 allows controlling the movement of an intact animal with blue light, making him one of the pioneers of

Optogenetics Optogenetics is a biological technique to control the activity of neurons or other cell types with light. This is achieved by Gene expression, expression of Channelrhodopsin, light-sensitive ion channels, Halorhodopsin, pumps or Photoactivated ade ...

. Working with

Georg Nagel Georg Nagel (born 24 August 1953 in Weingarten, Germany) is a biophysicist and professor at the Department for Neurophysiology at the University of Würzburg in Germany. His research is focused on microbial photoreceptors and the development of op ...

, he developed optogenetic tools to modulate the second messenger

cGMP CGMP is an initialism. It can refer to: *cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) * current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) *CGMP, Cisco Group Management Protocol, the Cisco version of Internet Group Management Protocol The Internet Group Manag ...

. He is the coordinator of Priority Programme SPP1926, 'Next Generation Optogenetics' of the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bud ...

Prizes and awards

* 2005 Career Development Award of the Human Frontier Science Program * 2008 Schram Award

References

External links

* * *
Recent analysis of ''C. elegans'' behavioral circuits
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gottschalk, Alexander 21st-century German biologists Physiologists Neurochemists German neuroscientists Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt Year of birth missing (living people) Living people