Research

Research Priorities: Nerve cells, synapses, transmitter release, transport processes in cells, neural and synaptic plasticity.

Thomas C. Südhof is a neuroscientist. He investigates how nerve cells communicate with each other via synapses, specifically those in the brain. Südhof was able to identify and clone proteins involved in the process. In 2013, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with the two US-American biochemists James Rothman and Randy Schekman for the discovery of vesicle trafficking.

Thomas C. Südhof developed methodological approaches for understanding the connections between nerve cells (synapses). He aims to find out how synapses form in the brain of embryos, how they are specified, and how they change. Synapses and complete neural networks can adapt to processes and optimise themselves by rearranging their structure. This feature, known as neural and synaptic plasticity, is a foundational mechanism for learning processes and memory. Thomas Südhof aims to discover the underlying molecular mechanisms of these processes and to understand how nerve cells form networks in the brain.

In 2013, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with the American biochemists James Rothman and Randy Schekman. They were awarded the prize for their “discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells”. Thomas Südhof was able to discover fundamental information about vesicle traffic in the cells of the body. Vesicles are little bubbles that store, for example, neurotransmitters such as serotonin or dopamine. They attach to the cell membrane and release their messengers there. The transmitters then trigger a signal in the neighbouring cell. This is how impulses are transported from cell to cell. Thomas Südhof identified multiple proteins involved in this process. He was able to show that, on the molecular level, transmitter release is regulated by calcium ions.

In the last ten years, the Thomas Südhof’s research has become more focused: He is particularly interested in how synapses are established between pre- and postsynaptic nerve cells and how they are given their characteristics from neurons. These fundamental processes form the basis for an improved understanding of how nerve cells are wired to one another and how a neural circuit is set in motion. Neurexins, a group of presynaptic adhesion proteins, play a substantial role here. Mutations in the genes coding for the neurexins are associated with illnesses such as Tourette’s Syndrome and schizophrenia.

Career

• since 2021 Member, Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine (SUSM), Stanford, USA
• since 2015 Director, Center for Molecular Neuroscience in Health and Disease, SUSM, Stanford, USA
• 2014-2019 Guest Researcher, Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), Berlin, Germany
• since 2008 Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Psychiatry and Neurology, SUSM, Stanford, USA
• 2008-2018 Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern (UT Southwestern), Dallas, USA
• 1997-2006 Director, Center for Basic Neuroscience, UT Southwestern, Dallas, USA
• 1995-1998 Director, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine (MPI EM), Göttingen, Germany
• 1991-2007 Professor of Molecular Genetics, Medical Center, UT Southwestern, Dallas, USA
• 1989-1991 Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, UT Southwestern, Dallas, USA
• 1987-1989 Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, UT Southwestern, Dallas, USA
• since 1986 Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, USA
• 1983-1985 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Molecular Genetics, UT Southwestern, Dallas, USA
• 1982-1983 Postdoctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany
• 1982  Doctorate, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
• 1981-1982 Intern, University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), Göttingen, Germany
• 1979 Visiting Student of Medicine, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
• 1978-1981 Research Associate, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany
• 1977-1982 Degree in Medicine, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
• 1975-1977 Degree in Medicine, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen (RWTH) Aachen, Germany

Functions

• since 2021 Scientific Advisory Board, BridgeBio Inc., Palo Alto, USA
• since 2021 Scientific Advisory Board, International Neuroscience Centre “Cajal” (CINC), Madrid, Spain
• 2020 Chairperson, Muscle and Axon Health Workshop, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Foundation, Jackson, USA
• since 2019 Scientific Advisory Board, Department of Neuroscience, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
• since 2018 Scientific Advisory Board, Portfolio Advice and Review Committee and Co-Chairperson (together with Richard Scheller), Alector LLC, San Francisco, USA
• since 2018 Scientific Advisory Board, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
• since 2018 Scientific Advisory Board, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China
• since 2018 Scientific Advisory Board, Chinese Brain Initiative (North), China
• since 2017 Editorial Board, PLOS Biology
• since 2017 Scientific Advisory Board, Jupiter Therapeutics, San Francisco, USA
• 2017-2020 Scientific Advisory Board, CytoDel Inc., New York City, USA
• 2017-2019 Scientific Advisory Board, Beihang University, Beijing, China
• 2017-2018 Scientific Advisory Board, Abide Therapeutics, Princeton, USA
• since 2016 Chairperson, Scientific Advisory Board, Matters
• since 2016 Scientific Advisory Board, Simcere Pharmaceutical, Nanjing, China
• since 2016 Non-executive Member and Chairperson, Scientific Committee, Sanofi, Paris, France
• since 2014 Scientific Advisory Board, Elysium Inc., Southfield, USA
• 2014-2020 Chairperson, Scientific Advisory Board, Science Matters
• 2014-2018 Scientific Advisory Board, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), A*Star, Singapore, Singapore
• 2014-2017 Scientific Advisory Board, Singapore National Research Foundation, Singapore, Singapore
• 2013-2017 Stanford Neuroscience Graduate Program Committee, Stanford University, Stanford,  USA
• 2008-2010 Review Committee, Neuroscience, Pfizer, New York City, USA
• 2008 Chairperson, Neurobiology of Disease Gordon Conference, Oxford, UK
• 2007-2008 Chairperson, Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern, Dallas, USA
• 2006-2016 Editorial Board, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
• 2004-2009 Editorial Board, Journal of Neuroscience
• since 2001 Editorial Board, European Journal of Neuroscience
• since 2000 Editorial Board, Neuroscience
• 2000-2001 Co-Editor, European Journal of Cell Biology
• since 2000 Editorial Board, Journal of Molecular Neuroscience
• 1999-2001 Chairperson, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, UT Southwestern, Dallas, USA
• 1997-2008 Lloyd B. Sands Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience, UT Southwestern, Dallas, USA
• 1996 Co-Chairperson (together with Richard Scheller), Gordon Conference on the Cell Biology of the Neuron, Plymouth, USA
• since 1995 Editorial Board, Neuron
• 1995-2006 Editorial Board, Journal of Biological Chemistry
• 1995-2008 Distinguished Chair, Neuroscience Research, UT Southwestern, Dallas, USA

Projects

• 1997-1998 Head, Subproject “Function of Neurexins in the Morphogenesis of the Nervous System”, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 271, German Research Foundation (DFG)
• 1996-1998 Head, Subproject “Mechanisms of Synaptic Targeting”, SFB 523, DFG

Honours and Memberships

• 2020 Doppler Lecture Award and Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy, University of Miskolc, Miskolc, Hungary
• 2020 Sherrington Lecture Award, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
• 2018 Member, European Academy of Sciences
• 2018 Pericles Prize, Pericles International Academy
• since 2017 Foreign Member, Royal Society, UK
• since 2015 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
• 2015 Honorary Doctorate, Philosophy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
• 2014 Pioneer Award (together with Solomon Snyder and Julien Mendlewicz), International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP)
• 2014 La Grande Médaille de la Ville de Paris, Level Vermeil (together with James Rothman and Randy Schekman), Paris, France
• 2014 Member, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (DNVA), Norway
• 2014 Great Cross of Merit with the Star of the Order of Merit, Federal Republic of Germany
• 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (together with James Rothman and Randy Schekman), The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute, Solna, Sweden
• 2013 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, Lasker Foundation, New York City, USA
• since 2010 Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, USA
• 2010-2020 MERIT Award, National Institute of Mental Health, USA
• 2010 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, Kavli Foundation, Los Angeles, USA and Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (DKNVS), Norway
• 2010 Albert Einstein Honorary Professorship, CAS, China
• 2008 Passano Award, Passano Foundation, Baltimore, USA
• 2008 Sir Bernard Katz Award (together with Reinhard Jahn), Biophysical Society, Rockville, USA
• 2008 Member, Institute of Medicine, Washington D.C., USA
• 2004 Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience Research, Bristol Myers Squibb, New York City, USA
• 2004 Ulf von Euler Award Lecture, Karolinska Institute, Solna, Sweden
• 2004 Metlife Foundation Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer’s Disease (together with Roberto Malinow), MetLife Foundation, New York City, USA
• since 2002 Member, National Academy of Sciences, USA
• 2000-2010 MERIT Award, National Institute of Mental Health, USA
• 1997 National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology (together with Richard Scheller), National Academy of Sciences, USA
• 1997 Roger Eckert Lecture, German Neuroscience Society, Göttingen, Germany
• 1994 Feldberg Prize, Feldberg Foundation, London, UK
• 1993 W. Alden Spencer Award (together with Richard Scheller), Columbia University, New York City, USA