Our Team

Camilla Ciapponi, Ph.D. will join our lab in January 2026 as a postdoctoral scientist. Originally from Milan, Italy, she earned her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Neurobiology from the University of Pavia (Italy). For her M.Sc. thesis, she joined the lab of Prof. Dr. Chris de Zeeuw at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam (Netherlands), where she used in vivo electrophysiology and optogenetics in behaving mice to study the cerebellum’s role in rhythmic voluntary movements. She then worked as a research assistant in the lab of Prof. Dr. Aparna Suvrathan at McGill University (Canada), using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology and behavioral paradigms to investigate plasticity rules in the cerebellum. Camilla was then awarded a Marie Curie PhD fellowship within the “Cerebellum and Emotional Network” project. For her Ph.D. thesis at the University of Pavia (Italy), in the lab of Prof. Dr. Egidio D’Angelo, she used head-mounted miniature microscopes for in vivo calcium imaging in freely behaving mice, investigating how cerebellum-prefrontal pathways contribute to fear learning and extinction. Her Ph.D. training included a research stay with Prof. Dr. Philip Tovote at the University Hospital Würzburg (Germany), where she trained in chronic ECG electrode implantation. When not in the lab, she’s usually hiking in the mountains or playing beach volleyball.

Hüma Erbörü will join our lab in October 2025 as a Ph.D. student within the GSN at LMU Munich. Originally from Istanbul, Turkey, she completed her B.A. in Psychology at Boğaziçi University (Turkey) and a dual M.Sc. in Brain and Mind Sciences at University College London (UK) and Sorbonne University (France). At UCL, in the lab of Dr. Marc Aurel Busche, she used in vivo two-photon calcium imaging to study neural network dysfunction in tauopathy models of Alzheimer’s disease. At Sorbonne, she worked with Dr. Rebecca Piskorowski using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology to explore how social and environmental factors influence CA2 circuit function in the hippocampus. She later worked as a research assistant at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behavior (UK) with Dr. Chunyu Ann Duan, studying flexible decision-making in mice using chemogenetics and translational models. She hopes to build on her systems neuroscience foundation during her Ph.D. by expanding into translational and clinical approaches, with the ultimate goal of contributing to more personalized interventions in mental health.

Julian Wettlaufer will join our lab in September 2025 as a Ph.D. student within the GSN at LMU Munich. He grew up in Großalmerode, Germany, and completed both his B.Sc. in Biology and M.Sc. in Developmental, Neural and Behavioral Biology at the University of Göttingen (Germany). For his B.Sc. thesis in the lab of Prof. Dr. André Fiala, he used optogenetics to investigate the role of mushroom body output neurons in Drosophila learning and feeding behavior. During his M.Sc., he worked in the lab of Prof. Dr. Siegrid Löwel, studying experience-dependent plasticity in the mouse visual cortex using in vivo intrinsic optical imaging and 2-photon microscopy. He also trained in Prof. Dr. Carolin Wichmann’s lab, where he used transmission electron microscopy to study synaptic ultrastructure in the cochlear nucleus. He completed his M.Sc. thesis in the lab of Prof. Dr. Jeong Seop Rhee at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (Germany), using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology to study synaptic vesicle dynamics and short-term plasticity in hippocampal neurons.

Reuben Rajadhyaksha joined our lab in July 2025 as a research assistant. He grew up in Goa, India, and received his B.Sc. in Zoology from Goa University (India) and his M.Sc. in Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences from the University of Groningen (Netherlands). During his M.Sc., Reuben completed two independent thesis projects. In the lab of Prof. Dr. Eddy van der Zee, he used behavioral experiments and immunohistochemistry to explore passive exercise as a therapeutic intervention in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. Next, in the lab of Prof. Dr. Jean-Christophe Billeter, he performed behavioral assays and gene analysis to investigate the genetic basis of sociability in Drosophila and compared identified genes with human GWAS data related to social behavior. Before joining the Schroeder lab, Reuben worked as a research assistant in the lab of Prof. Dr. Sarah Melzer at the Medical University of Vienna (Austria), where he independently designed and conducted long-term behavioral experiments on reward-based learning in mice.

Silviya Wolkerstorfer joined our lab in April 2025 as a technical assistant. Originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, she holds an MSc in Biomedical Analytics from FH Campus Wien and brings extensive experience working with mouse models, histology, immunohistochemistry, fluorescence microscopy, cell culture, and molecular biology. Prior to joining us, she worked for several years as a technical assistant and research associate at institutions including Ethris GmbH, LMU Munich, and the Helmholtz Center Munich, where she contributed to projects in cardiovascular biology, immunology, and neuroscience-related fields. Her strong methodological expertise and interdisciplinary background make her a valuable addition to the team.