Dr. Franziska Schneider-Warme
Head of Optogenetics, Emmy Noether Fellow
Research Interests:
- Design and implementation of new optogenetic tools for modulating the activity of excitable cells and tissues
- Development of optogenetic approaches for functionally dissecting electrical interactions between cardiac cell populations, with a current focus on cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, resident immune cells and intracardiac neurons
- Electrophysiological characterization of cardiac non-myocytes
- Deciphering neuronal control and effects of GPCR signalling on cardiac activity
- 3D reconstruction of cellular networks in healthy and diseased hearts
Brief CV:
Franziska Schneider-Warme studied Biophysics at the Humboldt University in Berlin (HUB) and at the Bordeaux Segalen University in Bordeaux (2004-2009). She then continued her post-graduate studies in the laboratory of Prof. Peter Hegemann at HUB, where her work focused on the design and optimization of rhodopsin-based optogenetic tools. After receiving her PhD in 2014, she completed a short post-doc working on a joint project with Christian Rosenmund's group at the Charité Berlin. In 2015, she joined Prof. Peter Kohl’s group at Imperial College London to apply the optogenetic approach to study heterocellular interactions in the heart. Since 2016 Franziska Schneider-Warme leads the Cardiac Optogenetics section at the IEKM in Freiburg, from 2019-2025 she was supported by the Emmy Noether Programme.
Selected Publications:
- Spreen A […] Leemisa AN, De Zio R […] Heer J […] Schneider-Warme F, Bernal Sierra YA, Seifert R. Optogenetic silencing by combining a rhodopsin cyclase with an engineered cGMP-gated potassium channel. Sci Adv 2025/11:eadx1195
- Stefanovska D […] Perez-Feliz S […] Schneider-Warme F […] Hortells L. Fibroblast growth factor signaling induces a chondrocyte-like state of peripheral nerve fibroblast during aging. Nat commun 2025/16:10020
- Chan A, Greiner J […] Brennan TA, Perez-Feliz S […] Klesen A […] Rog-Zielinska E, Kohl P, Schneider-Warme F, Grün D. Spatio-temporal dynamics of the cardio-immune niche during lesion repair. Nat Cardiovasc Res 2025/4:1550-1572
- Simon-Chica A*, Klesen A*, Emig, Chan A, Greiner J, Grün D, Lother A, Hilgendorf I, Rog-Zielinska EA, Ravens U, Kohl P, Schneider-Warme F*, Peyronnet R*. Piezo1 stretch-activated channel activity differs between murine bone marrow-derived and cardiac tissue-resident macrophages. J Physiol 2024/602(18):4437-4456
- Sassu E, Tumlinson G, Stefanovska G , Fernández MC, Iaconianni P, Madl J, Brennan TA, Koch M, Cameron BA, Preissl S, Ravens U, Schneider-Warme F, Kohl P, Zgierski-Johnston CM, Hortells L. Age-related structural and functional changes of the intracardiac nervous system. J Mol Cell Cardiol 2024/187:1-14
- Vierock J*, Peter E*, Grimm C*, Rozenberg A, Chen IW, Tillert L, Castro Scalise AG, Casini M, Augustin S, Tanese D, Forget BC, Peyronnet R, Schneider-Warme F, Emiliani V, Béjà O, Hegemann P. WiChR, a highly potassium-selective channelrhodopsin for low-light one- and two-photon inhibition of excitable cells. Sci Adv 2022/8:eadd7729
- Simon-Chica A, Fernández MC, Wülfers EM, Lother A, Hilgendorf I, Seemann G, Ravens U, Kohl P, Schneider-Warme F. Novel insights into the electrophysiology of murine cardiac macrophages: relevance of voltage-gated potassium channels. Cardiovasc Res 2022/cvab126
- Zgierski-Johnston CM, Schneider-Warme F. Observing and manipulating cell-specific cardiac function with light. Adv Exp Med Biol 2021/1293:377-388
- Kopton RA [...] Moss R, Zgierski-Johnston CM [...] Kohl P, Quinn TA, Schneider-Warme F. Cardiac Electrophysiological Effects of Light-Activated Chloride Channels. Front Physiol 2018/9:1806
- Bernal Sierra YA*, Rost BR*, Pofahl M* [...] Kopton RA [...] Kohl P, Baier H, Schneider-Warme F [...] Schmitz D. Potassium channel-based optogenetic silencing. Nat Commun 2018/9:4611 (*equal contribution)
- Rost BR, Schneider-Warme F, Schmitz D, Hegemann P. Optogenetic Tools for Subcellular Applications in Neuroscience. Neuron 2017/96:572-603
- Johnston CM, Rog-Zielinska EA, Wülfers EM [...] Kohl P, Schneider-Warme F. Optogenetic targeting of cardiac myocytes and non-myocytes: Tools, challenges and utility. Prog Biophys Mol Biol 2017/130(Pt B):140-149
- Rost BR*, Schneider F* [...] Rosenmund C. Optogenetic Acidification of Synaptic Vesicles and Lysosomes. Nature Neuroscience 2015/18:1845–1852 (*equal contribution)
- Schneider F, Grimm C and Hegemann P. The biophysics of channelrhodopsin. Annual Review of Biophysics 2015/44:167-186
- Wietek J [...] Schneider F [...] Hegemann P. Conversion of Channelrhodopsin into a Light-Gated Chloride Channel. Science 2014/344:409-412
- Schneider F, Gradmann D and Hegemann P. Ion Selectivity and Competition in Channelrhodopsins. Biophysical Journal 2013/105:91-100
- Yizhar O, Fenno LE, Prigge M, Schneider F [...] and Deisseroth K. Neocortical excitation/inhibition balance in information processing and social dysfunction. Nature 2011/477:171-178
All Publications:
Contact
franziska.schneider.uhz@uniklinik-freiburg.de
+49 (0)761 270 63954