Prof. Dr. Christoph Viebahn

Professor of Anatomy

  • Dr. med., University of Bonn, Germany (1983)
  • Senior House Officer in Surgery, Medway Hospital, Gillingham, Kent, United Kingdom (1984)
  • Habilitation for Anatomy, University of Bonn, Germany (1992)
  • Fogarty Stipend at National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA (1998)
  • Assistant Professor of Anatomy, University of Halle/Saale, Germany (2000)
  • Full Professor of Anatomy, University of Göttingen, Germany (since 2002)
  • Visiting Professor, University College London, United Kingdom (2012)


  • Homepage Department/Research Group

    www.embryologie.uni-goettingen.de



    Major Research Interests

    Mechanisms shaping the body plan during mammalian embryogenesis:
    - generation and differentiation of germ layers (gastrulation)
    - instructive functions of extraembryonic tissues
    - anterior-posterior polarity
    - left-right asymmetry
    - the early germ line
    - evolution in amniote development

    Correlative light- and electron-microscopy
    Tissue localization of gene activity
    Experimental analysis of tissue cultures
    Main model organisms: mouse, rabbit, pig, marmoset, and chick



    Selected Recent Publications

  • Schröder SS, Tsikolia N, Weizbauer A, Hue I, Viebahn C (2015) Paraxial nodal expression reveals a novel conserved structure of the left-right organizer in four mammalian species. Cells Tissues Organs (in press)
  • Stankova, V., N. Tsikolia and C. Viebahn (2015). Rho kinase activity controls directional cell movements during primitive streak formation in the rabbit embryo. Development 142: 92-98
  • Aeckerle, N., C. Drummer, K. Debowski, C. Viebahn and R. Behr (2015). Primordial germ cell development in the marmoset monkey as revealed by pluripotency factor expression: suggestion of a novel model of embryonic germ cell translocation. Mol Hum Reprod 21: 66-80
  • Tsikolia, N., S. Schröder, P. Schwartz and C. Viebahn (2012). Paraxial left-sided nodal expression and the start of left-right patterning in the early chick embryo. Differentiation 84: 380-391
  • Kilic, N., S. Feldhaus, E. Kilic, P. Tennstedt, D. Wicklein, R. Wasielewski, C. Viebahn, H. Kreipe and U. Schumacher (2011). Brachyury expression predicts poor prognosis at early stages of colorectal cancer. Eur J Cancer 47: 1080-1085
  • Hopf, C., C. Viebahn and B. Püschel (2011). BMP signals and the transcriptional repressor BLIMP1 during germline segregation in the mammalian embryo. Dev Genes Evol 221: 209-223
  • Hassoun R, Schwartz P, Feistel K, Blum B, Viebahn C (2009) Axial differentiation and early gastrulation stages of the pig embryo. Differentiation 78: 301-311
  • Gros, J., Feistel, K., Viebahn, C., Blum, B., and Tabin, C.J. (2009) Cell Movements at Hensen?s Node Establish Left/Right Asymmetric Gene Expression in the Chick. Science 324: 941-4.