CV

Prof. Schnieke has dedicated her research to understand and combat human diseases. Her early work, first at the Heinrich Pette Institute in Hamburg and later at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, focused on retroviral vectors for gene therapy and insertional mutagenesis in mice. This resulted in the first genetically engineered mouse model for a human disease, osteogenesis imperfecta type 1 (brittle bone disease) as well as the basis for viral vectors for gene therapy. Her interest in large animal research began at Colorado State University and then in the biotech industry, where her research focused on the production of pharmaceutical proteins in the milk of transgenic farm animals and the generation of xenograft donors. During this time she was instrumental in the development of several new technologies, most notably somatic cell nuclear transfer (Dolly the sheep), which was developed in collaboration with the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh. This revolutionised our understanding of cell fate and cell determination, and paved the way for the reprogramming of cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. At the same time, it enabled cell-based transgenesis in farm animals for the first time and the creation of the first large animals with targeted genetic modification. During her time at TUM the technologies were further refined: first conditional gene targeting in pigs, first pig line expressing Cre recombinase in a tissue-specific manner, first porcine tumour model for the development of early diagnosis and therapy options, first genome editing in rabbits, Cas9-expressing pigs for local in vivo genome editing, multitransgenic and multi-genome-edited xenodonor pigs for human transplantation. She participates in various national and international advisory, third-party funding and award committees.

 

Short biography

1975 - 1978	Diploma Bioengineering, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
1995 - 1999	PhD, University of Edinburgh, UK, Faculty of Medicine
1978 - 1984	Bioengineer, Heinrich-Pette-Institute for Experimental Virology and Immunology, University of Hamburg
1984  - 1987	Research Associate, Whitehead Institute, MIT, USA
1987 - 1988	Research Associate, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Bern, Switzerland
1988 - 1992	Research Associate, Dept. of Physiology, Colorado State University, USA
1992 - 2003	Head of Molecular Biology, PPL Therapeutics Ltd, Edinburgh, UK
2000 - 2003	Assistant Director of Research, PPL Therapeutics Ltd, Edinburgh, UK
2003 - 2022	Chair of Livestock Biotechnology, TU Munich
2013 - 2016	Dean of the TUM School of Life Sciences, TU Munich
2016 - 2021	Vice Dean of the TUM School of Life Sciences, TU Munich

 

Memberships and honors

Leopoldina, National Science Adademy (since 2011)

European Academy - Member

Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh - Member of scientific advisory board

Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Mentorin (until 2021)

German Research Foundation - Committee on stem cell policy

European Food Safety Authority - Advisory committee on GM animals

BBVA Foundation, Frontiers of Knowledge Awards (Biomedicine) - Jury chair

TTN working group - Committee on future of biomedical sciences

European Academies Science Advisory Council - Working Group: Opportunities and challenges for research on food and nutrition security and agriculture in Europe

 

Scientific Projects

• A porcine model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, DFG SFB 1321
• Mechanisms underlying intestinal microbiota orchestrated induction, maintenance and breaking of tolerance to non-self-antigens, DFG SFB 1371
• ForTiTher: Porcine genome editing, Bavarian Research Foundation
• In vivo manipulation of non-coding RNAs in pig hearts DFG SFB/TRR 277
• A nanovaccine approach for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, EU
• Biology of xenogeneic cell, tissue and organ transplantation – from bench to bedside, DFG SFB/TRR 127