Melina Schuh
Schuh in 2020
Born
Germany
Alma mater
AwardsEMBO Gold Medal

Melina Schuh is a German biochemist and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences.[1] She is known for her work on meiosis in mammalian oocytes,[2] for her studies on the mechanisms leading to the age-related decline in female fertility,[3] and for the development of the Trim-Away protein depletion method.[4]

Early life and education

Schuh was born in 1980 in Germany and grew up in Bad Pyrmont.[5] In 2004, she received her diploma in biochemistry from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, where she studied the incorporation of Cenp-A into centromeres in Drosophila embryos with Stefan Heidmann and Christian Lehner.[6]

Career

Melina Schuh did her PhD with Jan Ellenberg at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, where she established methods for high-resolution imaging of meiosis in live mouse oocytes.[3] She used these methods to study the organization and positioning of the spindle in mouse oocytes.[5][7][8] In 2009, Schuh became a Group Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK.[9] In 2016, she was appointed Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry.[1] In 2022, the Institute merged with the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine to form the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences.

Schuh's laboratory studies the development and function of mammalian oocytes. They are also investigating the causes of the age-related decline in female fertility. Schuh's work focuses on the process of oocyte division, in which oocytes mature into eggs by extruding half of their chromosomes in a small cell termed the polar body.[10][11] This requires the spindle apparatus in these cells to be positioned asymmetrically. She discovered a role for proteins that control actin nucleation in the positioning of the spindle.[12] In studying how actin helps position the spindle, she discovered that vesicles carrying specific signals can change the organization and density of actin networks.[13] In addition, her group developed a strategy to perform high-content RNAi screens for meiotic genes in mouse oocytes.[14]

Errors in oocyte division can lead to miscarriage and age-related female infertility. Working with Bourn Hall Clinic, the clinic that first pioneered IVF, Schuh studied human oocyte divisions directly, instead of using mouse oocytes as a model system. She found that human oocytes have a surprisingly slow and error-prone mechanism for assembling the meiotic spindle,[15] increasing the likelihood of segregation errors. She has also investigated the reasons why older mothers have a higher rate of pregnancy loss, and found that oocytes from older mothers have a higher frequency of defects in chromosome architecture.[16][17]

Her lab developed a method for the acute degradation of endogenous proteins, called Trim-Away,[4] and established essential functions for actin[18] and a liquid-like spindle domain in acentrosomal spindle assembly.[19] Recent work from her lab has identified the cause of spindle instability in human oocytes[20] and an mRNA storage mechanism in mammalian oocytes.[21]

Honors and Awards

References

  1. 1 2 "Curriculum Vitae". www.mpinat.mpg.de. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  2. ↑ Charalambous, Chloe; Webster, Alexandre; Schuh, Melina (2023). "Aneuploidy in mammalian oocytes and the impact of maternal ageing". Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology. 24 (1): 27–44. doi:10.1038/s41580-022-00517-3. ISSN 1471-0080. PMID 36068367. S2CID 252109475.
  3. 1 2 "EMBO Gold Medal 2018 awarded to Marek Basler and Melina Schuh". Embo.org. 16 May 2018.
  4. 1 2 "A Method for the Acute and Rapid Degradation of Endogenous Proteins".
  5. 1 2 Sedwick, Caitlin (31 March 2014). "Melina Schuh: First comes the egg". J Cell Biol. 204 (7): 1080–1081. doi:10.1083/jcb.2047pi. ISSN 0021-9525. PMC 3971742. PMID 24687276.
  6. ↑ Schuh, Melina; Lehner, Christian F.; Heidmann, Stefan (6 February 2007). "Incorporation of Drosophila CID/CENP-A and CENP-C into Centromeres during Early Embryonic Anaphase". Current Biology. 17 (3): 237–243. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.11.051. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 17222555. S2CID 17907028.
  7. ↑ Schuh, Melina; Ellenberg, Jan (10 August 2007). "Self-organization of MTOCs replaces centrosome function during acentrosomal spindle assembly in live mouse oocytes". Cell. 130 (3): 484–498. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2007.06.025. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 17693257.
  8. ↑ Schuh, Melina; Ellenberg, Jan (23 December 2008). "A new model for asymmetric spindle positioning in mouse oocytes". Current Biology. 18 (24): 1986–1992. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.11.022. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-002A-2372-5. ISSN 1879-0445. PMID 19062278. S2CID 18672283.
  9. ↑ "Melina Schuh : CV" (PDF). Mpibpc.mpg.de. August 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  10. ↑ Journal of Cell Science (2016). "Cell scientist to watch – Melina Schuh". Journal of Cell Science. 129: 7–8. doi:10.1242/jcs.182717.
  11. ↑ "Dr. Melina Schuh". Academia-net.org.
  12. ↑ Pfender, Sybille; Kuznetsov, Vitaliy; Pleiser, Sandra; Kerkhoff, Eugen; Schuh, Melina (7 June 2011). "Spire-type actin nucleators cooperate with Formin-2 to drive asymmetric oocyte division". Current Biology. 21 (11): 955–960. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.04.029. ISSN 1879-0445. PMC 3128265. PMID 21620703.
  13. ↑ Holubcová, Zuzana; Howard, Gillian; Schuh, Melina (2013). "Vesicles modulate an actin network for asymmetric spindle positioning". Nature Cell Biology. 15 (8): 937–947. doi:10.1038/ncb2802. ISSN 1476-4679. PMC 3797517. PMID 23873150.
  14. ↑ Pfender, Sybille; Kuznetsov, Vitaliy; Pasternak, Michał; Tischer, Thomas; Santhanam, Balaji; Schuh, Melina (2015). "Live imaging RNAi screen reveals genes essential for meiosis in mammalian oocytes". Nature. 524 (7564): 239–242. Bibcode:2015Natur.524..239P. doi:10.1038/nature14568. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 4538867. PMID 26147080.
  15. ↑ Holubcova, Z.; Blayney, M.; Elder, K.; Schuh, M. (5 June 2015). "Error-prone chromosome-mediated spindle assembly favors chromosome segregation defects in human oocytes". Science. 348 (6239): 1143–1147. Bibcode:2015Sci...348.1143H. doi:10.1126/science.aaa9529. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 4477045. PMID 26045437.
  16. ↑ Zielinska, Agata P.; Holubcova, Zuzana; Blayney, Martyn; Elder, Kay; Schuh, Melina (15 December 2015). "Sister kinetochore splitting and precocious disintegration of bivalents could explain the maternal age effect". eLife. 4: e11389. doi:10.7554/eLife.11389. ISSN 2050-084X. PMC 4755749. PMID 26670547.
  17. ↑ Zielinska, Agata P.; Bellou, Eirini; Sharma, Ninadini; Frombach, Ann-Sophie; Seres, K. Bianka; Gruhn, Jennifer R.; Blayney, Martyn; Eckel, Heike; Moltrecht, Rüdiger; Elder, Kay; Hoffmann, Eva R.; Schuh, Melina (18 November 2019). "Meiotic Kinetochores Fragment into Multiple Lobes upon Cohesin Loss in Aging Eggs". Current Biology. 29 (22): 3749–3765.e7. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.09.006. ISSN 0960-9822. PMC 6868511. PMID 31679939.
  18. ↑ Mogessie, Binyam; Schuh, Melina (2017). "Actin protects mammalian eggs against chromosome segregation errors". Science. 357 (6353): eaal1647. doi:10.1126/science.aal1647. hdl:1983/eeaebe4b-5bda-4cc3-afb5-9576e8a9854d. ISSN 1095-9203. PMID 28839045.
  19. ↑ So, Chun; Seres, K. Bianka; Steyer, Anna M.; Mönnich, Eike; Clift, Dean; Pejkovska, Anastasija; Möbius, Wiebke; Schuh, Melina (2019). "A liquid-like spindle domain promotes acentrosomal spindle assembly in mammalian oocytes". Science. 364 (6447). Bibcode:2019Sci...364.9557S. doi:10.1126/science.aat9557. PMC 6629549. PMID 31249032.
  20. ↑ So, Chun; Menelaou, Katerina; Uraji, Julia; Harasimov, Katarina; Steyer, Anna M.; Seres, K. Bianka; Bucevičius, Jonas; Lukinavičius, Gražvydas; Möbius, Wiebke; Sibold, Claus; Tandler-Schneider, Andreas; Eckel, Heike; Moltrecht, Rüdiger; Blayney, Martyn; Elder, Kay (11 February 2022). "Mechanism of spindle pole organization and instability in human oocytes". Science. 375 (6581): eabj3944. doi:10.1126/science.abj3944. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 35143306. S2CID 246750454.
  21. ↑ Cheng, S.; Altmeppen, G.; So, C.; Welp, L. M.; Penir, S.; Ruhwedel, T.; Menelaou, K.; Harasimov, K.; Stützer, A.; Blayney, M.; Elder, K.; Möbius, W.; Urlaub, H.; Schuh, M. (2022). "Mechanism of spindle pole organization and instability in human oocytes". Science. 378 (6617): eabq4835. doi:10.1126/science.abq4835. PMID 36264786. S2CID 253045448.
  22. ↑ "22 young group leaders recognized as EMBO Young Investigators". Embo.org.
  23. ↑ "ERC grantee wins EMBO gold medal". Erc.europa.eu. 16 May 2018.
  24. ↑ "Melina Schuh and M. Madan Babu awarded Lister Research Prizes". MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. 3 September 2014.
  25. ↑ "Past winners of an Early Career Research Award". Biochemistry.org.
  26. ↑ "List of winners". Embl.de. 31 May 2023.
  27. ↑ "EMBO Gold Medal 2018 awarded to Marek Basler and Melina Schuh". Embl.de.
  28. ↑ "2019 Winners". Biochemistry.org. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  29. ↑ "DFG, German Research Foundation – Dr. Melina Schuh". www.dfg.de. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  30. ↑ "Melina Schuh". German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  31. ↑ Biology, ©2023 MRC Laboratory of Molecular; Avenue, Francis Crick; Campus, Cambridge Biomedical; CB2 0QH, Cambridge; Uk. 01223 267000. "Women in Science". MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Retrieved 3 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  32. ↑ "Honorary Professorship for Director Melina Schuh". Twitter.
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