Sebastian Timmler

Dr Timmler is a neuroscientist with a background in biochemistry and molecular biology. His research focuses on myelin, the cellular structure that wraps around axons, the “cables” of the brain. He wants to understand how neuronal activity regulates myelin formation and how myelin influences the function of neuronal circuits. 

He studied biochemistry at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg and Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel in Germany, supported by a Cusanuswerk fellowship. During his PhD in the lab of Mikael Simons in Göttingen (Georg-August-University, MPI for Experimental Medicine) and Munich (Technical University, DZNE), he discovered that complexes of adhesion molecules cooperatively regulate myelin sheath growth. As a postdoc in the lab of Ragnhildur Thóra Káradóttir at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, he is now studying how neuronal activity changes patterns of membrane adhesion molecules to determine myelination. Recently, he secured generous funding through the Walter-Benjamin fellowship of the German Research Foundation (DFG). His main methods are light and electron microscopy, primary cell culture, optogenetics and proteomics. When he is not in the lab, he enjoys cycling through the English countryside, firing up the barbecue and gardening. You can follow him on Mastodon @myelination@mastodon.social, ResearchGate, LinkedIn or twitter @MyelinScientist.