Erin Schuman was born in 1963 in California. She did her Bachelors, PhD and postdoctoral studies at the University of Southern California, Princeton and Stanford Universities, respectively. In 1993, she joined Caltech's Biology Faculty and was appointed an HHMI investigator (1997-2009). In 2009, she moved to Frankfurt, Germany to found a new Max Planck Institute for Brain Research. She is an elected member of EMBO, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the US National Academy of Sciences. She received the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine, the EMBO Women in Science Award, the Rosenstiel Award, and the Brain Prize.
Schuman has a long-standing interest molecular and cell biological processes that control protein synthesis and degradation in neurons and their synapses. Following on the lab's initial discovery that proteins made locally in dendrites are required for synaptic plasticity, they identified the mRNA and ribosome population present in neuronal dendrites and axons. In addition, they have developed new tools to label, identify and visualize newly synthesized proteins using non-canonical amino acids and click chemistry (the BONCAT and FUNCAT techniques). The lab's current work focusses on the nature and specialization of mRNA translation and protein degradation machines and mechanisms in neurons.
Professional position
- Director, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Max Planck Society
