Amparo Acker-Palmer

Amparo Acker-Palmer is a Full Professor and Chair of the Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology at Goethe University Frankfurt's Biology Faculty, holding this position since 2011. She is also a Faculty member of the Focus Program Translational Neurosciences (FTN) at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since 2012, and a Max Planck Fellow at the MPI for Brain Research in Frankfurt since July 2014.

Education:

• Bachelor of Biology (Biochemistry), Valencia University (1986-1991)
• PhD from Valencia University (1992-1996) with thesis on 'Characterization of the proteasome in different subcellular locations' (summa cum laude)
• Visiting research scientist at University of Leicester's Department of Biochemistry (1992/93/94)

Amparo Acker-Palmer's research spans multiple interconnected fields at the intersection of neuroscience and vascular biology. Her work focuses on developmental neurobiology, particularly synapse formation, dendritic arborization, and cortex development. She investigates synaptic plasticity mechanisms involving Eph/ephrin and reelin signaling, and has pioneered research on the neurovascular link, examining how blood vessels instruct neuronal migration and synapse formation. Her studies on the Blood Brain Barrier explore Reelin, VEGFR and ephrinB signaling, while her angiogenesis research covers both developmental retinal angiogenesis and pathological tumor angiogenesis. Her tumor biology work addresses glioma progression and brain metastasis.

Her publication record reveals strong emphasis on molecular mechanisms underlying neurovascular interactions, with consistent high-impact publications in top journals including Nature, Cell, and PNAS. The research shows evolution from early work on proteasomes and receptor signaling toward increasingly sophisticated investigations of neurovascular coupling mechanisms.

Scientific Awards:

• Max Planck Fellow (2014)
• Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2012)
• Gutenberg Forschungskolleg (GFK) Fellow (2012)
• Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstädter Prize for Young Investigators (2010)
• Ph.D. Extraordinary Award by Valencia University (1997)

Amparo Acker-Palmer has established herself as a leading researcher through her independent group leadership at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology (2001-2007) and subsequent W2 Professorship in the Cluster of Excellence 'Macromolecular Complexes' at Goethe University Frankfurt (2007-2011). She leads the Research Group Neurovascular Link at the MPI for Brain Research and maintains affiliations with multiple prestigious research networks including the Cluster of Excellence 'Macromolecular Complexes' (CEF) and Cluster of Excellence 'Cardio-Pulmonary System' (ECCPS). Her collaborative work spans multiple institutions and has secured significant recognition including the Paul Ehrlich Prize for Young Investigators.

She directs the Department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology at Goethe University Frankfurt, leads the Neurovascular Link research group at the MPI for Brain Research, and participates in the Focus Program Translational Neurosciences at Johannes Gutenberg University. Her laboratory investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying the interactions between the nervous and vascular systems during development and in disease contexts, with particular emphasis on Eph/ephrin signaling pathways.