Dr. Schaefer is Administrative Director of the P30 Neuroscience Blueprint Core Grant, and Director of the newly-created Office of Neuroscience Research (ONR). The ONR is designed to take advantage of the broad expanse of Neuroscience research at Washington University, providing a portal of information. As Director, Dr. Schaefer draws on her diverse training in basic as well as translational neuroscience at Washington University, to create networks and provide a centralized source of information for internal investigators, investigators at other institutions, and others who wish to know more about the strong history and current advances in our Neuroscience research.

Medical Training

Dr. Schaefer received her PhD from Washington University, studying molecules that are conserved in developmental mechanisms of synapse formation. For this work, Dr. Schaefer was awarded the Viktor Hamburger Prize in Developmental Biology. Dr. Schaefer continued her focus on the synapse as a Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellow, examining a mouse model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease) to learn how the connection between a nerve cell and muscle is altered during the course of ALS. Dr. Schaefer joined the Department of Neurology in 2006, serving as the first Deputy Director of the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders. As of 2009, she spearheads the new Office of Neuroscience Research.

Selected Publications

Schaefer AM, Hadwiger GD, and Nonet, ML (2000). rpm-1, a conserved neuronal gene that regulates targeting and synaptogenesis in C. elegans. Neuron 26, 345-356.

Schaefer AM and Nonet ML (2001). Molecular and cellular insights into presynaptic assembly. Curr Opin Neurobiol 11, 127-134.

Hewes RS, Park D, Gauthier SA, Schaefer AM, and Taghert PH (2003). The bHLH protein Dimmed controls neuroendocrine cell differentiation in Drosophila. Development 130, 1771-81.

Koushika SP, Schaefer AM, Vincent R, Willis J, Bowerman B., and Nonet ML (2004). Mutations in C. elegans cytoplasmic dynein components reveal specificity of neuronal retrograde cargo. J Neurosci 24, 3907-16.

Schaefer AM, Sanes JR, and Lichtman JW (2005). A compensatory subpopulation of motor neurons in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Comp Neurol 490, 290-19.