Nils Brose, MSc, Ph.D.

Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine
Professor, Department of Molecular Neurobiology

Nils Brose studied biochemistry, biology, and physiology at the Universities of Tuebingen (Germany) and Oxford (UK). He conducted his PhD work with Reinhard Jahn at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Martinsried (Germany) and then did postdoc studies with Steve Heinemann at the Salk Institute in La Jolla (CA, USA) and with Tom Suedhof at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas (TX, USA). Subsequently, Nils Brose was a Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Goettingen (Germany), where he has been the Director of the Department of Molecular Neurobiology since 2001. Nils Brose's research focusses on the molecular mechanisms that control the formation and function of synapses between nerve cells. One of his key research interests concern the mechanisms of synaptic vesicle fusion. He pioneered the characterization of synaptic vesicle priming as a key step in transmitter release and as a major regulatory process in synapse efficacy and plasticity. In his seminar, Nils Brose will present recent studies on the control of synaptic vesicle priming and on the role of this process in controlling synapse efficacy under physiological and pathophysiological conditions.