Anna Schroeder

Prof. Dr. Anna Schroeder is a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor (W2) in Neuroscience at LMU Munich’s Faculty of Biology, leading the Schroeder Lab. Her research focuses on understanding how neural circuits in the zona incerta process internal states (e.g., emotions, hunger) to adapt behavior in dynamic environments. She combines molecular, cellular, and circuit-level neuroscience with in vivo imaging, optogenetics, and machine learning to explore mechanisms underlying psychiatric diseases and develop neuromodulation therapies.

• ERC Starting Grant recipient (2024)
• Rise up! grant awardee (2025)
• DFG-funded 2-photon microscope project (2025)

Her lab investigates the intersection of synaptic plasticity, learning and memory, and neural circuit mapping, with recent work highlighting the role of layer 1 NDNF interneurons in cortical inhibition and the zona incerta’s disinhibitory circuits in behavioral memory. She mentors PhD students like Hüma Erbörü and Julian Wettlaufer, while collaborating with institutions such as the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry and Italian Institute of Technology.