Bjoern Schwer, MD, PhD

Bjoern Schwer, MD, PhD

Principal Investigator

Research Interests: DNA repair, genome stability, chromatin regulation, transcriptional regulation, brain cancer, neural stem cells

The broad, long-term objective of the Schwer laboratory is to gain mechanistic insight into how the interrelated processes of DNA repair, chromatin regulation, and transcriptional regulation, affect normal brain physiology and disorders. More specifically, Dr. Schwer investigates mechanisms of chromosomal DNA double-strand break formation and repair in neural stem/progenitor cells and other neural cell types in the contexts of neurodevelopment, neural functioning, diversity, and disease.

One major current focus involves understanding causes of genome instability and chromosomal rearrangements in neural progenitors that give rise to medulloblastoma and other brain cancers.

Schwer Lab Website >

 

Education and Training

2003: MD, University of Heidelberg, Germany
2005: PhD, University of Heidelberg, Germany
2007: Postdoctoral Fellow, Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, UCSF
2010: Research Fellow, Boston Children's Hospital and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School
 

Academic Positions

2010-2014: Instructor, Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
2014-2016: Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
2016-Present: Assistant Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, UCSF
2016-Present: Core Member, Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, UCSF
2016-Present: Associate Member, Neurologic Oncology (Cancer Genetics), Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF
 

Selected Awards

2017: Kimmel Scholar, Sidney Kimmel Foundation
2017: Suzanne Marie Haderle and Robert Vincent Haderle Endowed Chair, UCSF
2016-2018: UCSF Brain Tumor SPORE Career Development Program Award
2013: Martin D. Abeloff V Scholar Award, The V Foundation for Cancer Research