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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).