Erin Schuman’s scientific work aims to deepen understanding of brain development, plasticity and function, as well as of human memory. Her research focuses on neuronal connections in the nervous system via so-called synapses. A single nerve cell communicates with sensory, muscle, gland or other nerve cells through as many as 200,000 synapses. These interactions, which are essential for learning capacity and memory performance, depend on a wide range of proteins, including signalling molecules.
To ensure that these proteins are constantly available, extensive processes of synthesis and degradation are essential. Schuman was able to show that the production of new proteins in nerve cells does not take place solely in the cell body, as it does in other cell types. Rather, in nerve cells, all the structures required for the synthesis of around 250 million protein molecules per day are distributed throughout the entire cell, including in the axons, dendrites and synapses: from small protein factories, the ribosomes, to the necessary copies of the genetic blueprints in the form of messenger RNA (mRNA). Schuman was able to demonstrate a particularly high concentration of these “protein factories” in the vicinity of synapses. Her research shows how nerve cells manage the logistical challenge of producing up to 2,000 different signalling molecules: through a decentralised system of protein synthesis located in the immediate vicinity of where the proteins are needed and used. Only in this way are nerve cells able to store new information in memory.
Erin Schuman has been a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main since 2009 and Professor of Neuronal Synaptic Dynamics at Goethe University Frankfurt since 2015. In 2024, she was awarded the Körber European Science Prize by the Körber Foundation. She is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences in the United States, as well as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in the United Kingdom.
The Kavli Prize has been awarded every two years since 2008 in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. The award is the result of a partnership between the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the US-based Kavli Foundation. To date, more than 70 scientists from 14 countries have received the Kavli Prize. More than 10 laureates later went on to receive the Nobel Prize.