Inmates

Robin did his undergraduate and graduate studies in genetics, computational biology and philosophy (totally shows) at the University of Freiburg in Germany. He then did a postdoc at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and was Assistant and Associate Professor for more than 8 years at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. After 15 years (!) in Texas and a life with no fast food, no TV, no gun and no right to vote, he moved to Berlin in 2015. He has yet to understand the German academic system.

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The boss.

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Postdocs

Live dynamics of neuronal morphogenesis.

Spatial constraints and cell surface molecule depletion structure a randomly connected learning circuit. Thornton-Kolbe EM*, Ahmed M*, Gordon FR, Sieriebriennikov B, Williams DL, Kurmangaliyev YZ, Clowney EJ.Curr Biol. 2025 Jul 7;35(13):3191-3208.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.05.062. *equal contribution

Input density tunes Kenyon cell sensory responses in the Drosophila mushroom body. Ahmed M, Rajagopalan AE, Pan Y, Li Y, Williams DL, Pedersen EA, Thakral M, Previero A, Close KC, Christoforou CP, Cai D, Turner GC, Clowney EJ. Curr Biol. 2023 Jul 10;33(13):2742-2760.e12. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.05.064.

Untangling the wires: development of sparse, distributed connectivity in the mushroom body calyx. Puñal VM, Ahmed M, Thornton-Kolbe EM, Clowney EJ. Cell Tissue Res. 2021 Jan;383(1):91-112. doi: 10.1007/s00441-020-03386-4.

Presynaptic developmental plasticity allows robust sparse wiring of the Drosophila mushroom body. Elkahlah NA, Rogow JA, Ahmed M, Clowney EJ. Elife. 2020 Jan 8;9:e52278. doi: 10.7554/eLife.52278.

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From filopodial dynamics to brain wiring. (since April 2022)

PTEN controls alternative splicing of autism spectrum disorder-associated transcripts in primary neurons. Rademacher S, Preußner M, Rehm MC, Fuchs J, Heyd F, Eickholt BJ. Brain. 2025 Jan 7;148(1):47-54. doi: 10.1093/brain/awae306.

Cell type-specific and subcellular expression of phospholipid phosphatase-related proteins to modulate lyso-phosphatidic acid synaptic signaling in the developing and adult CNS. Polyzou A, Fuchs J, Kroon C, Kotoula A, Delis F, Turko P, Antoniou K, Eickholt B, Leondaritis G.J Neurochem. 2024 Sep;168(9):3050-3062. doi: 10.1111/jnc.16169.

Automated Analysis of Neuronal Morphology in 2D Fluorescence Micrographs through an Unsupervised Semantic Segmentation of Neurons. Zehtabian A, Fuchs J, Eickholt BJ, Ewers H.Neuroscience. 2024 Jul 23;551:333-344. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2024.05.024.

Brain wiring: Love the one you’re with. Fuchs J and Hiesinger PR. Curr Biol. 2023. 33(13):R727-R729.

Plasma membrane phospholipid phosphatase-related proteins as pleiotropic regulators of neuron growth and excitability. Fuchs J, Bareesel S, Kroon C, Polyzou A, Eickholt BJ, Leondaritis G.Front Mol Neurosci. 2022 Sep 15;15:984655. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2022.984655.

Precursor types predict the stability of neuronal branches. Fuchs J, Eickholt BJ. J Cell Sci. 2021 Dec 1;134(23):jcs258983. doi: 10.1242/jcs.258983.

Harnessing PTEN’s Growth Potential in Neuronal Development and Disease. Fuchs J, Eickholt BJ, Leondaritis G. Neurosci Insights. 2020 Sep 13;15:2633105520959056. doi: 10.1177/2633105520959056.

The Axonal Membrane Protein PRG2 Inhibits PTEN and Directs Growth to Branches. Brosig A, Fuchs J, Ipek F, Kroon C, Schrötter S, Vadhvani M, Polyzou A, Ledderose J, van Diepen M, Holzhütter HG, Trimbuch T, Gimber N, Schmoranzer J, Lieberam I, Rosenmund C, Spahn C, Scheerer P, Szczepek M, Leondaritis G, Eickholt BJ. Cell Rep. 2019 Nov 12;29(7):2028-2040.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.10.039.

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What can we learn from adult connectomes about brain development?

Connectomic reconstruction predicts the functional organization of visual inputs to the navigation center of the Drosophila brain. Garner D*, Kind E*, Nern A, Houghton L, Zhao A, Sancer G, Rubin GM, Wernet MF, Kim SS. Nature. 2024 Oct;634(8032):181-190. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07967-z. *equal contribution

Neuronal “parts list” and wiring diagram for a visual system. Matsliah A, Yu SC, Kruk K, Bland D, Burke A, Gager J, Hebditch J, Silverman B, Willie K, Willie R, Sorek M, Sterling AR, Kind E, Garner D, Sancer G, Wernet MF, Kim SS, Murthy M, Seung HS; FlyWire Consortium. Nature. 2024 Oct;634(8032):166-180. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07981-1.

Synaptic targets of photoreceptors specialized to detect color and skylight polarization in Drosophila. Kind E, Longden KD, Nern A, Zhao A, Sancer G, Flynn MA, Laughland CW, Gezahegn B, Ludwig HD, Thomson AG, Obrusnik T, Alarcón PG, Dionne H, Bock DD, Rubin GM, Reiser MB, Wernet MF. Elife. 2021 Dec 16;10:e71858. doi: 10.7554/eLife.71858.

Vision: Space and colour meet in the fly optic lobes. Kind E, Wernet MF. Curr Biol. 2021 Jul 26;31(14):R909-R912. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.009.

Cellular and synaptic adaptations of neural circuits processing skylight polarization in the fly. Sancer G, Kind E, Uhlhorn J, Volkmann J, Hammacher J, Pham T, Plazaola-Sasieta H, Wernet MF. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2020 Mar;206(2):233-246. doi: 10.1007/s00359-019-01389-3. Epub 2019 Dec 6.

Modality-Specific Circuits for Skylight Orientation in the Fly Visual System. Sancer G, Kind E, Plazaola-Sasieta H, Balke J, Pham T, Hasan A, Münch LO, Courgeon M, Mathejczyk TF, Wernet MF. Curr Biol. 2019 Sep 9;29(17):2812-2825.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.07.020. Epub 2019 Aug 8.

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The role of time in brain wiring.

Axonal self-sorting without target guidance in Drosophila visual map formation. Agi E, Reifenstein ET, Wit C, Schneider T, Kauer M, Kehribar M, Kulkarni A, von Kleist M, Hiesinger PR. Science. 2024 Mar 8;383(6687):1084-1092. doi: 10.1126/science.adk3043. Epub 2024 Mar 7.

Neuronal strategies for meting the right partner during brain wiring. Agi, E., Kulkarni, A., and Hiesinger, P.R. (2020). Curr. Opin. Neurobiol, 63:1-8.

Serial synapse formation through filopodial competition for synaptic seeding factors. Ozel, M.N.*, Kulkarni, A.*, Hasan, A.*, Brummer, J., Moldenhauer, M., Daumann, I.M., Wolfenberg, H., Dercksen, V.J., Kiral, F.R., Weiser, M., Prohaska, S., von KLeinst, M.*, Hiesinger, P.R.* , Developmental Cell 50(4):447-461.e8.

Birth order dependent growth cone segregation determines synaptic layer identity in the Drosophila visual system. Kulkarni A, Ertekin D, Lee CH, Hummel T. Elife. 2016 Mar 17;5:e13715. doi: 10.7554/eLife.13715.

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Applying new imaging methods … now to the fly brain!

Condensates of synaptic vesicles and synapsin-1 mediate actin sequestering and polymerization. Chhabra A, Hoffmann C, Aguilar Pérez G, Korobeinikov AA, Rentsch J, Hümpfer N, Kokwaro L, Gnidovec L, Petrović A, Wallace JN, Tromm JV, Román-Vendrell C, Johnson EC, Ranković B, Perego E, Volpi T, Fernández-Busnadiego R, Köster S, Rizzoli SO, Ewers H, Morgan JR, Milovanović D. EMBO J. 2025 Sep;44(18):5112-5148. doi: 10.1038/s44318-025-00516-y.

Sub-membrane actin rings compartmentalize the plasma membrane. Rentsch J, Bandstra S, Sezen B, Sigrist P, Bottanelli F, Schmerl B, Shoichet S, Noé F, Sadeghi M, Ewers H. J Cell Biol. 2024 Apr 1;223(4):e202310138. doi: 10.1083/jcb.202310138. Epub 2024 Jan 22.

Synapsin condensation controls synaptic vesicle sequestering and dynamics. Hoffmann C, Rentsch J, Tsunoyama TA, Chhabra A, Aguilar Perez G, Chowdhury R, Trnka F, Korobeinikov AA, Shaib AH, Ganzella M, Giannone G, Rizzoli SO, Kusumi A, Ewers H, Milovanovic D. Nat Commun. 2023 Oct 23;14(1):6730. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-42372-6.

Controlled Grafting Expansion Microscopy. Thielhorn R, Heing-Becker I, Hümpfer N, Rentsch J, Haag R, Licha K, Ewers H. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Jul 10;62(28):e202302318. doi: 10.1002/anie.202302318.

An Efficient GUI-Based Clustering Software for Simulation and Bayesian Cluster Analysis of Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy Data. Kutz S, Zehrer AC, Svetlitckii R, Gülcüler Balta GS, Galli L, Kleber S, Rentsch J, Martin-Villalba A, Ewers H. Front Bioinform. 2021 Oct 11;1:723915. doi: 10.3389/fbinf.2021.723915.

Precise measurement of nanoscopic septin ring structures with deep learning-assisted quantitative superresolution microscopy. Zehtabian A, Müller PM, Goisser M, Obendorf L, Jänisch L, Hümpfer N, Rentsch J, Ewers H. Mol Biol Cell. 2022 Jul 1;33(8):ar76. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E22-02-0039.

The synaptic scaffold protein MPP2 interacts with GABAA receptors at the periphery of the postsynaptic density of glutamatergic synapses. Schmerl B, Gimber N, Kuropka B, Stumpf A, Rentsch J, Kunde SA, von Sivers J, Ewers H, Schmitz D, Freund C, Schmoranzer J, Rademacher N, Shoichet SA. PLoS Biol. 2022 Mar 21;20(3):e3001503. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001503.

Expansion STED microscopy (ExSTED). Gao M, Thielhorn R, Rentsch J, Honigmann A, Ewers H. Methods Cell Biol. 2021;161:15-31. doi: 10.1016/bs.mcb.2020.06.001. Epub 2020 Jun 29.

Actomyosin Contractility in the Generation and Plasticity of Axons and Dendritic Spines. Mikhaylova M, Rentsch J, Ewers H. Cells. 2020 Sep 1;9(9):2006. doi: 10.3390/cells9092006.

Directed manipulation of membrane proteins by fluorescent magnetic nanoparticles. Li JH, Santos-Otte P, Au B, Rentsch J, Block S, Ewers H. Nat Commun. 2020 Aug 26;11(1):4259. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18087-3.

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Developmental processes of CNS formation and their genetic regulation. (since March 2022).

Selective adhesion preserves eye patterning as axonal retinotopy in the Drosophila brain (2026). Kehribar M, Wit CB, Krasikova K, Agi E, Reifenstein ET, Wolterhoff N, Wriedt LQ, von Kleist M, and Hiesinger PR (2026). Current Biology, in press, pre-pub online Feb 3, 2026

Synaptic promiscuity in brain development. Wolterhoff N, Hiesinger PR. Curr Biol. 2024 Feb 5;34(3):R102-R116. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.037.

Developmental pruning of sensory neurites by mechanical tearing in Drosophila. Krämer R, Wolterhoff N, Galic M, Rumpf S.J Cell Biol. 2023 Mar 6;222(3):e202205004. doi: 10.1083/jcb.202205004.

PP2A phosphatase is required for dendrite pruning via actin regulation in Drosophila. Wolterhoff N, Gigengack U, Rumpf S. EMBO Rep. 2020 May 6;21(5):e48870. doi: 10.15252/embr.201948870.

Functions of Microtubule Disassembly during Neurite Pruning. Rumpf S, Wolterhoff N, Herzmann S. Trends Cell Biol. 2019 Apr;29(4):291-297. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2019.01.002.

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PhD Students

Rab GTPases in neuronal development and maintenance (until Dec. 2025)

Lipid rafts, Rab GTPases, and a late endosomal checkpoint for plasma membrane recycling. Daumann IM, Hiesinger PR. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Apr 4;120(14):e2302320120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2302320120.

Systematic functional analysis of Rab GTPases reveals limits of neuronal robustness to environmental challenges in flies. Kohrs, F.E*, Daumann, I.M.*, Pavlović, B., Jin, E.J., Lin, S.C. Port, F., Kiral, F.R., Wolfenberg, H., Mathejczyk, T.F., Linneweber, G.A., Chan, C.C., Boutros, M., Hiesinger, P.R. (2021) eLife 10:e59594 * co-first authors

Serial Synapse Formation through Filopodial Competition for Synaptic Seeding Factors. Özel MN, Kulkarni A, Hasan A, Brummer J, Moldenhauer M, Daumann IM, Wolfenberg H, Dercksen VJ, Kiral FR, Weiser M, Prohaska S, von Kleist M, Hiesinger PR.Dev Cell. 2019 Aug 19;50(4):447-461.e8.

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Molecular Mechanisms of Early Pattern Formation in the Visual Map.

Selective adhesion preserves eye patterning as axonal retinotopy in the Drosophila brain (2026). Kehribar M, Wit CB, Krasikova K, Agi E, Reifenstein ET, Wolterhoff N, Wriedt LQ, von Kleist M, and Hiesinger PR (2026). Current Biology, in press, pre-pub online Feb 3, 2026

Axonal self-sorting without target guidance in Drosophila visual map formation. Agi E, Reifenstein ET, Wit C, Schneider T, Kauer M, Kehribar M, Kulkarni A, von Kleist M, Hiesinger PR. Science. 2024 Mar 8;383(6687):1084-1092. doi: 10.1126/science.adk3043. Epub 2024 Mar 7.

Turnover of synaptic adhesion molecules. Kehribar M, Hiesinger PR. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2023 Mar;124:103816. doi: 10.1016/j.mcn.2023.103816. Epub 2023 Jan 14.

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Live Observation of Synaptic Partner Interaction Dynamics

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Autophagy in Synapse Development

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Lab Manager & Technical Assistance

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Former PhD Students and Postdocs

• Egemen Agi PhD, former Postdoctoral Fellow, now Innovation Manager, Max-Delbrück Center Berlin
• Maheva Andriatsilavo PhD, former Postdoctoral Fellow, now PostDoc with Bassem Hassan
• Suchetana Dutta, former PhD student (together with Bassem Hassan), now postdoc in Dresden
• Charlotte Wit, former PhD student, now Scientific Project Manager, EU-Openscreen
• Friederike Kohrs, former PhD student, now Community Engagement Manager BIH Quest Berlin
• Amr Hasan, former PhD student
• Ferdi Ridvan Kiral, former PhD student, now PostDoc with In-Hyun Park at Yale
• Eugene Jennifer Jin, former PhD student, now Asst. Prof. at Southwestern College, US
• Mehmet Neset Özel, former PhD student, now Asst. Prof. at the Stowers Institute, US
• Marion Langen PhD, former Postdoctoral Fellow
• Chih-Chiang Chan PhD, former Postdoctoral Fellow, now Professor at National Taiwan University
• W. Ryan Williamson PhD, former Graduate Student, now Director, IDEA Core, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, US
• Adam Haberman PhD, former PostDoc, now Associate Professor at University of San Diego