Professor Gabriele Kaminski Schierle

Gabriele Kaminski Schierle is Professor of Molecular Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, UK, and serves as the leader of the Molecular Neuroscience group. After her studies in Switzerland at the Université de Fribourg, she moved to Sweden and obtained her PhD in 1999 from Lund University, where she discovered a method that significantly increases the survival rate of neurones transplanted into the brains of patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Although the therapeutic success of the transplantation method was spectacular, she soon realised that the grafting of human embryonic tissue cannot constitute a long-term medical strategy and that cures must be sought by addressing the root causes of the disease. A personal fellowship from the Wellcome Trust permitted her to come to Cambridge and begin training on the molecular biology of neurodegenerative diseases. She has since built up an internationally recognised research group and infrastructure to investigate the molecular mechanisms causing proteins to misfold and form amyloid aggregates in model systems mimicking aspects of PD, Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Huntington’s Disease. Her group has pioneered a research approach that combines advanced biophysical/optical methods with molecular neurobiology for research into neurodegeneration.

QUALIFICATIONS
2021               Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
1996 – 1999    PhD in Medicine, Lund University, Sweden
1991 – 1996    Swiss Diploma in Biology (MSc equivalent), Université de Fribourg, Switzerland

ACADEMIC CAREER 
2023               Professor (grade 12) of Molecular Neuroscience,
                      Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, UK
2021 – 2023    Professor (grade 11) of Molecular Neuroscience,
                      Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, UK
2020 – 2021    Reader of Molecular Neuroscience
                      Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, UK
2015 – 2020    Lecturer in Molecular Biotechnology,
                      Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, UK
2011 – 2015    Senior PDRA and Group Leader for Biology,
                      at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
2005 – 2011    PDRA (part time ca 50%) at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
2001 – 2005    PDRA at the Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, UK
1999 – 2001    PDRA at the Department of Physiological Sciences, Lund University, Sweden

OTHER APPOINTMENTS AND AFFILIATIONS 
2020               CSO of the Cambridge Infinitus Research Centre,
                      Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, UK
                       (https://circe.ceb.cam.ac.uk)
2018 – 2019    Scientific consultant for the Federal Research Agency of Korea.
2017               Director of the MPhil in Biotechnology,
                      Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, UK
                      (https://www.ceb.cam.ac.uk/postgraduates-tab/mphil-biotechnology)
2015 – 2020    Co-director of the Cambridge Infinitus Research Centre, Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, UK (https://circe.ceb.cam.ac.uk)
2015               Head of the Molecular Neuroscience Group,
                      Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, UK
                      (https://www.ceb.cam.ac.uk/research/groups/molecular-neuroscience-group
2004 – 2005    Scientific Consultant for Zyentia Ltd., Cambridge, UK
2000 – 2002    Scientific consultant and project leader for a Danish pharmaceutical company (Lundbeck A/S)

HONOURS
1996    Marie Curie PhD fellowship of the EU
1999    Fellowship from the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation (USA) 
2000    Future Scientific Leader award from the Swedish Society of Medical Research for improving neuronal survival
           of transplanted neurons in Parkinson’s disease
2002    Wellcome Trust Advanced Training Fellowship
2005    Foulkes Foundation Fellowship