Alexander Gottschalk

Alexander Gottschalk studied chemistry, biochemistry and immunology at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Philipps University in Marburg and University of Edinburgh, UK. His PhD thesis (Dr. rer. nat.) was conducted in the laboratory of Reinhard Lührmann at the University of Marburg. As a postdoctoral fellow, he worked with William R. Schafer at UC San Diego to study the nervous system of Caenorhabditis elegans. In 2004, he became an independent research group leader in Frankfurt. In 2010, he was awarded a Heisenberg-Professor position and became Full Professor for Molecular Cell Biology and Neurobiochemistry in 2016. His research [https://www.bmls.de/Cellular_and_Molecular_Neurobiology/aboutus.html group] is located at the Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences.

Alexander Gottschalk studies the neuronal control of behavior in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. In 2005, he demonstrated that neuronal expression of the light-gated channel Channelrhodpsin-2 allows controlling the movement of an intact animal with blue light, making him one of the pioneers of Optogenetics.{{Cite journal|last1=Nagel|first1=Georg|last2=Brauner|first2=Martin|last3=Liewald|first3=Jana F.|last4=Adeishvili|first4=Nona|last5=Bamberg|first5=Ernst|last6=Gottschalk|first6=Alexander|date=2005|title=Light Activation of Channelrhodopsin-2 in Excitable Cells of Caenorhabditis elegans Triggers Rapid Behavioral Responses|journal=Current Biology|volume=15|issue=24|pages=2279–2284|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2005.11.032|pmid=16360690 |issn=0960-9822|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Zhang|first1=Feng|last2=Wang|first2=Li-Ping|last3=Brauner|first3=Martin|last4=Liewald|first4=Jana F.|last5=Kay|first5=Kenneth|last6=Watzke|first6=Natalie|last7=Wood|first7=Phillip G.|last8=Bamberg|first8=Ernst|last9=Nagel|first9=Georg|last10=Gottschalk|first10=Alexander|last11=Deisseroth|first11=Karl|date=2007|title=Multimodal fast optical interrogation of neural circuitry|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature05744|journal=Nature|volume=446|issue=7136|pages=633–639|doi=10.1038/nature05744|pmid=17410168 |bibcode=2007Natur.446..633Z |s2cid=4415339 |issn=0028-0836|url-access=subscription}} Working with Georg Nagel, he developed optogenetic tools to modulate the second messenger cGMP.{{Cite journal|last1=Gao|first1=Shiqiang|last2=Nagpal|first2=Jatin|last3=Schneider|first3=Martin W.|last4=Kozjak-Pavlovic|first4=Vera|last5=Nagel|first5=Georg|last6=Gottschalk|first6=Alexander|date=2015-09-08|title=Optogenetic manipulation of cGMP in cells and animals by the tightly light-regulated guanylyl-cyclase opsin CyclOp|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9046|journal=Nature Communications|volume=6|issue=1|page=8046 |doi=10.1038/ncomms9046|pmid=26345128 |issn=2041-1723|pmc=4569695|bibcode=2015NatCo...6.8046G }} He is the coordinator of Priority Programme SPP1926, 'Next Generation Optogenetics' of the German Research Foundation.{{cite web | title=Next Generation Optogenetics: DFG Schwerpunktprogramm SPP 1926Next Generation Optogenetics | website=DFG Schwerpunktprogramm SPP 1926 | url=http://www.spp1926.de/ | access-date=26 July 2023}}

• 2005 Career Development Award of the Human Frontier Science Program
• 2008 Schram Award{{cite web | title=Gottschalk | website=Goethe-Universität Frankfurt | url=https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/87769845/Prof__Dr__Alexander_Gottschalk | language=de | ref={{sfnref | Goethe-Universität Frankfurt}} | access-date=26 July 2023}}

• {{cite web | title=Prof. Dr. Alexander Gottschalk | website=Goethe-Universität Frankfurt | url=https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/87769845/Prof__Dr__Alexander_Gottschalk | language=de | ref={{sfnref | Goethe-Universität Frankfurt}} | access-date=27 December 2021}}
• {{cite web | title=Molecular Membrane Biology and Neurobiology | website=Goethe-Universität | url=https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/69793125/Molecular_Membrane_Biology_and_Neurobiology | ref={{sfnref | Goethe-Universität}} | access-date=27 December 2021}}
• {{cite web | title=Alexander Gottschalk | website=Interdiziplinäres Zentrum für Neurowissenschaften Frankfurt (IZNF) – Das IZNF ist ein Zusammenschluss von über 60 neurowissenschaftlich arbeitenden Forschergruppen in Frankfurt. | date=13 December 2021 | url=https://www.izn-frankfurt.de/mitglied/gottschalk/ | ref={{sfnref | Interdiziplinäres Zentrum für Neurowissenschaften Frankfurt (IZNF) – Das IZNF ist ein Zusammenschluss von über 60 neurowissenschaftlich arbeitenden Forschergruppen in Frankfurt. | 2021}} | access-date=27 December 2021}}
• [https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/719937 Recent analysis of C. elegans behavioral circuits]

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Category:21st-century German biologists

Category:Physiologists

Category:Neurochemists

Category:German neuroscientists

Category:Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt

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Category:Living people