Bjoern Schwer, MD, PhD

Associate Professor
Suzanne Marie Haderle and Robert Vincent Haderle Endowed Chair
Department of Neurological Surgery
+1 415 476-6786

Our laboratory seeks to gain mechanistic insight into how interrelated processes - namely DNA repair, chromatin regulation, and transcriptional regulation - affect brain physiology. We investigate 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, cellular diversity, and disease. In the latter context, a major current focus is the elucidation of causes of genome instability and chromosomal rearrangements in neural progenitors that give rise to brain cancers.

Research Summary: 
Genomic instability and DNA repair in neural cells
Mentorship Development: 

4/11/19    Acknowleding and Negotiating the Mentee-Mentor Tensions Inherent in the Research Lab (Mission Bay)
12/19/19    ACRA: Setting Training Expectations for Trainees on the Academic Career Track (1.5 hours)
3/10/20    Promoting Student Mental Health:A Presentation and Discussion (Staff and Faculty)
4/30/20    Mental Health in a Pandemic: Q&A for Faculty
10/20/20    Gathering in Community: a Training for Faculty and Staff

Websites

Featured Publications: 

Transcription-associated processes cause DNA double-strand breaks and translocations in neural stem/progenitor cells.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Schwer B, Wei PC, Chang AN, Kao J, Du Z, Meyers RM, Alt FW

Long Neural Genes Harbor Recurrent DNA Break Clusters in Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells.

Cell

Wei PC, Chang AN, Kao J, Du Z, Meyers RM, Alt FW, Schwer B