Göttinger Graduiertenzentrum für Neurowissenschaften, Biophysik und Molekulare Biowissenschaften

Schuh, Reinhard, Prof. Dr.

Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences


  • Dr. rer. nat., University of Tübingen, Germany, 1986
  • Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany, 1986 - 1988
  • Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Munich, Germany, 1989 - 1991
  • Group leader in the Department of Molecular Developmental Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany, 1992-2004
  • Habilitation in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, 2001
  • Leader of the Research Group Molecular Organogenesis at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, since 2005
  • since 2008: Teaching as an adjunct professor on the Faculty of Biology at the University of Göttingen



Major Research Interests

Branched tubular networks are a fundamental structural design of many organs including lung, vascular system and kidney. Critical for organ function, i.e. the transport of fluids or gases, is the proper size and diameter of the tubular branches as well as an elaborated network formation. How do these networks develop? How do the branches grow out, detect their fusion partners and interconnect? How are tube size and diameter controlled? How can the system respond to different physiological needs? How do epidermal sheets control the paracellular passage of solutes?

We investigate the development of the Drosophila tracheal (respiratory) system since it provides an ideal model to address such questions, because of its simple stereotypic architecture, accessible genetics and molecular tools.


Homepage Department/Research Group

https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/person/11795/3887



Selected Recent Publications


  • Weiss A, Charbonnier E, Ellertsdottir E, Tsirigos A, Wolf C, Schuh R, Pyrowolakis G, M. Affolter M (2010) A conserved activation element in BMP signaling during Drosophila development. Nature Struct Mol Biol 17, 69-76

  • Harder B, Schomburg A, Pflanz R, Küstner K M, Gerlach N, Schuh R (2008) TEV protease-mediated cleavage in Drosophila as a tool to analyze protein functions in living organisms. BioTechniques 44:765-772

  • Krause C, Wolf C, Hemphälä J, Samakovlis C, Schuh R (2006) Distinct functions of the leucine-rich repeat transmembrane proteins Capricious and Tartan in the Drosophila tracheal morphogenesis. Dev Biol 296: 253-264

  • Adryan B, Schuh R (2004) Gene Ontology-based clustering of gene expression data. Bioinformatics 20: 2851-2852

  • Behr M, Riedel D, Schuh R (2003) The claudin-like Megatrachea is essential in septate junctions for the epithelial barrier function in Drosophila. Dev Cell 5: 611-620

  • Wolf C, Gerlach N, Schuh R (2002) Drosophila tracheal system formation involves FGF-dependent cell extensions contacting bridge-cells. EMBO Reports 3: 563-568