Prof. Dr. rer.-nat. Stefan Schulte-Merker

CRC 1607 | Prof. Dr. rer.-nat. Stefan Schulte-Merker

Institut für Kardiovaskuläre Organogenese und Regeneration
University of Münster
Mendelstr. 7
48149 Münster, Germany
+49 251 83 35423
schultes@ukmuenster.de

Projects:

Project leader

Scientific career

2020- present President European Zebrafish Society

2018- present Member ‘Expertenpool des Nationalen Ausschuss TierSchG

2016-2018 Chair, LS4 Panel, ERC Consolidator Grants

06/2014 – present Professor at the Westphalian Wilhelms-University Münster

Director Institute of Cardiovascular Organogenesis & Regeneration

2012 – 2019 Board Member and Treasurer EUFishBioMed e.V

2012-2014 Panel member ERC Starter & Consolidator Grants

2012 Offer W3 Professorship HHU Düsseldorf (declined)

07/2010 – 05/2014 Special Professor for Developmental Biology, University Wageningen (NL)

2008 – 2014 Treasurer and Board Member of the International Society of Developmental Biology

2007 Chair of Organizing Committee, 5th European Zebrafish Meeting, Amsterdam (800 participants)

06/2004 – 05/2014 Tenured PI at the Hubrecht Institute, Utrecht, the NL

09/1998 – 05/2004 Director and Senior Director at Exelixis Inc. (San Francisco, US) and Artemis/Exelixis Germany (Tübingen)

1995 – 08/1998 Junior Group Leader, MPI Developmental Biolgy, Tübingen

1993 – 1994 Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Jim Smith (NIMR, London, UK)

Selected publications

  1. Huisman, Y., Uphoff, K., Berger, M., Dobrindt, U., Scheelhaas, M., Zobel, T., Bussmann, J., van Impel, A., and Schulte-Merker, S. (2022). Meningeal lymphatic endothelial cells fulfill scavenger endothelial cell function and cooperate with microglia in waste removal from the brain. Glia, 70:35-49.
  2. Wang, G., Muhl, L. Padberg, Y., Dupont, L., Peterson-Maduro, J., Stehling, M., Colige, A., le Noble, F., Colige, A., Betsholtz, C., Schulte-Merker, S.*, and van Impel, A.* (2020). Specific Fibroblast subpopulations and neuronal structures serve as local sources of Vegfc-processing components during lymphangiogenesis. Nature Communications, 11(1):2724 (doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16552-7). *corresponding authors.
  3. Harrison, R.M., Feng, X., Mo, G., Aguayo, A., Villafuerte, J., Yoshida, C., Pearson, C.A., Schulte-Merker, S., and Lien, C.-L. (2019) Late developing cardiac lymphatic vasculature supports adult zebrafish heart function and regeneration. eLife, Nov, 8;8:e42762 (doi: 10.7554/elife.42762).
  4. Van Lessen, M., Shibata-Germanos, S., van Impel, A., Hawkins, T.A., Rihel, J., and Schulte-Merker, S. (2017) Intracellular uptake of macromolecules by brain lymphatic endothelial cells during zebrafish embryonic development. eLife doi: 10.7554/eLife.25932.
  5. Karpänen, T.K., Padberg, Y., van de Pavert, S.A., Dierkes, C., Morooka, N., Peterson-Maduro, J., van de Hoek, G., Mochizuki, N., Sekiguchi, K., Kiefer, F., Schulte, D., and Schulte-Merker, S. (2017) An evolutionary conserved role for Polydom/SVEP1 during lymphatic vessel formation. Circulation Research 120(8): 1263-1275.
  6. Hogan, B. and Schulte-Merker, S. (2017) How to plumb a pisces: Understanding Vascular Development and Disease Using Zebrafish Embryos. Dev Cell 25;42(6):567-583.
  7. van Impel, A., Zhao, Z., Hermkens, D.M.A., Roukens, G., Fischer, J.C., Peterson-Maduro, J., Duckers, H., Ober, E.A., Ingham, P.W., and Schulte-Merker, S. (2014) Divergence of lymphatic cell specification pathways between zebrafish and mice. Development 141, 1228-1238
  8. Bos, F.L., Caunt, M., Peterson-Maduro, J., Planas-Paz, L., Kowalski, J., Karpanen, T., van Impel, A., Tong, R., Ernst, J.A., Korving, J., van Es., J.H., Lammert, E., Duckers, H.J., and Schulte-Merker, S. (2011) CCBE1 Is Essential for Mammalian Lymphatic Vascular Development and Enhances the Lymphangiogneic Effect of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-C In Vivo. Circulation Research 109(5): 486-91.
  9. Hogan, B.M., Bos, F., Bussmann, J., Witte, M., Chi, N., Duckers, H., Schulte-Merker, S. (2009) Ccbe1 is required for embryonic lymphangiogenesis and venous sprouting. Nature Genetics 41: 396-398.
  10. Alders, M., Hogan, B.M., Gjini, E., Salehi, F., Al-Gazali, L., Hennekam, E.A., Holmberg, E.E., Mannens, M.M.A.M., Mulder, M.F., Offerhaus, G.J.A., Prescott, T.E., Schroor, E.J., Verheij, J.B.G.M., Witte, M., Zwijnenburg, P.J., Vikkula, M., Schulte-Merker, S.* & Hennekam, R.C.* (2009) Mutations in CCBE1 cause generalized lymph vessel dysplasia in humans. Nature Genetics, Nature Genetics 41: 1272-1274. (*joint last authors).