Matthias Kneussel

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Matthias Kneussel (born January 23, 1966 in Darmstadt ) is a German neuroscientist and brain researcher .

Life

Kneussel graduated from the Georg Büchner School in Darmstadt in 1985 and studied biology at the TU Darmstadt from 1987 to 1993 . In 1993 he wrote his diploma thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics in Frankfurt / Main .

After completing his studies, he moved to the University College London (UCL) in England in 1994 in the Department of Pharmacology. Using homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells, he established a “knock-in” mouse model with a point mutation at the Q / R site of the NMDA receptor subunit NMDAR1 (GluN1). After several years of experimental research as a "PhD student" in London , England , Kneussel was awarded the academic degree Doctor rerum naturalium at the TU Darmstadt in 1997 with the thesis "A transgenic mouse model with the N598R mutation in the NMDAR1 receptor subunit using gene targeting" ( Dr. rer. Nat. ) Awarded.

From 1997 to 2002 Kneussel worked initially as a research assistant, later as a team leader in the “Neurotransmitter Receptors” working group at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main. During this time he investigated numerous protein-protein interactions at the postsynaptic density of glycinergic and GABAergic synapses and was awarded the Young Scientist Prize of the German Neuroscientific Society in 2001. With the thesis "Molecular organization of membrane-related and membrane-associated proteins of central synapses in the nervous system of mammals" he qualified as a professor in 2004 at the University of Frankfurt am Main in biochemistry .

In 2002, Kneussel was appointed as an independent group leader at the Center for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg (ZMNH) at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf . He completed his habilitation again at the University of Hamburg and in 2005 received the “ venia legendi ” for genetics and molecular biology . In 2006, Kneussel received the sponsorship award from the Heidelberg Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation . Since 2010 he has been professor and director of the Institute for "Molecular Neurogenetics" at the ZMNH of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, which was founded in the same year.

Research topics

Kneussel conducts research on the molecular and cellular level of the brain. He became known for his work on the synaptic anchoring of inhibitory glycine and GABA-A receptors by the postsynaptic protein gephyrin . Together with other scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main, he was able to show for the first time using genetic methods in a mouse model that gephyrin is essential for the receptor density of GABAergic synapses. Together with Heinrich Betz , he developed a model to describe a central gephyrin protein structure at the inhibitory postsynapse, which functions as a platform for the synaptic anchoring of neurotransmitter receptors. Further work by Kneussel showed that proteins of the excitatory and inhibitory synapse (GRIP1, Gephyrin) take on tasks in the neuronal transport of intracellular vesicles by coupling neurotransmitter receptors as adapter proteins to molecular motors (motor protein complexes). From this work and the work of other scientists , the theory derives that certain synaptic proteins mediate dual functions by regulating both the specificity of receptor transport to a synapse and the receptor anchoring at a synapse. Later research identified transport and anchoring proteins GABAergic synapses, such as muscle lin and radixin. Using neurogenetic methods in a mouse model, Kneussel is researching how synaptic activity and neuronal plasticity influence intracellular transport by molecular motors to and from synapses and how newly synthesized proteins are targeted to those synapses that are involved in learning and memory. Current research topics deal with the molecular investigation of cognitive processes like learning and memory as well as with psychiatric illnesses and memory loss .

Publications (selection)

  • M. Kneussel, W. Wagner: Myosin motors at neuronal synapses: drivers of membrane transport and actin dynamics. In: Nat Rev Neurosci. 14 (4), Apr 2013, pp. 233-247. doi: 10.1038 / nrn3445 . Review. PMID 23481482 .
  • C. Janke, M. Kneussel: Tubulin post-translational modifications: encoding functions on the neuronal microtubule cytoskeleton. In: Trends Neurosci. 33 (8), Aug 2010, pp. 362-372. doi: 10.1016 / j.tins.2010.05.001 . Review. PMID 20541813 .
  • A. Dumoulin, A. Triller, M. Kneussel: Cellular transport and membrane dynamics of the glycine receptor. In: Front Mol Neurosci. 2, 2009, p. 28. doi: 10.3389 / neuro.02.028.2009 . PMID 20161805 ; PMC 2820378 (free full text).
  • M. Kneussel: Postsynaptic scaffold proteins at non-synaptic sites. The role of postsynaptic scaffold proteins in motor-protein-receptor complexes. In: EMBO Rep. 6 (1), Jan 2005, pp. 22-27. PMID 15643447 ; PMC 1299229 (free full text).
  • M. Kneussel, H. Betz: Clustering of inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors at developing postsynaptic sites: the membrane activation model. In: Trends Neurosci. 23 (9), Sep 2000, pp. 429-435. Review. PMID 10941193 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kneussel, Matthias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German neuroscientist and brain researcher
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Darmstadt