Vanessa Stempel, Group Leader

Education and Positions

2021 – present
Max Planck Research Group Leader
Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

2015 – 2020
Postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Tiago Branco 
Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, University College London and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK

2015
Visiting scientist with Prof. István Katona 
Momentum Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, KOKI, Budapest, Hungary

2015
PhD in Neuroscience with Prof. Dietmar Schmitz 
Free University of Berlin and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

2009
MSc in Biomedicine
University College London, UK

2008
BSc in Biology
Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Germany and Jagiellonian University, Poland (2007 – 2008)

Awards and Grants

2026 - 2030 FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence

2025 - 2029 EU COST Action on Sex as a Biological Variable (EU-SABV)

2025 – 2029 HorizonEurope: ERC Starting Grant

2025 - 2028 Max Planck Foundation Grant

2023 – 2025 Behrens-Weise Foundation

2022 – 2024 Alfred Dollwet Foundation

2019  UCL Early Career Neuroscience Prize, Junior Scientist Category

2017 – 2020  Postdoctoral fellowship, German Research Foundation (DFG)

2011 – 2013  Graduate fellowship, DFG Graduate College GRK1123

2007 – 2008  Undergraduate scholarship, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), ‘Go East’ Initiative