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2025
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Biology and Biochemistry
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2026

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Best Scientists

D-Index
227
Citations
171942
World Ranking
108
National Ranking
78

Biology and Biochemistry

D-Index
232
Citations
180026
World Ranking
15
National Ranking
13

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Biology and Biochemistry in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Biology and Biochemistry in United States Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Biology and Biochemistry in United States Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Biology and Biochemistry in United States Leader Award
  • 2017 - Fellow of the Royal Society, United Kingdom
  • 2015 - German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Neurosciences
  • 2013 - Fellow, National Academy of Inventors
  • 2013 - Nobel Prize for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells
  • 2013 - Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, Lasker Foundation
  • 2010 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 2010 - Kavli Prize, The Kavli Foundation for discovering the molecular basis of neurotransmitter release
  • 2007 - Member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
  • 2003 - Metlife Foundation Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer's Disease
  • 2002 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 1999 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 1993 - W. Alden Spencer Award, College of Physicians and Surgeons
  • Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
  • Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
  • Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
  • Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts

Overview

Thomas C. Südhof is affiliated with Stanford University in the United States. Their research focuses extensively on neuroscience and biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology. A substantial part of their work spans related subfields including molecular biology, cellular and molecular neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, cell biology, and neurology.

The main topics covered in their research include neuroscience and neuropharmacology, photoreceptor and optogenetics research, cellular transport and secretion, receptor mechanisms and signaling, neural dynamics and brain function, CRISPR and genetic engineering, and neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration mechanisms.

Some notable recent publications authored or co-authored by Thomas C. Südhof are:

  • The cell biology of synapse formation, 2021, The Journal of Cell Biology
  • Treatment of a genetic brain disease by CNS-wide microglia replacement, 2022, Science Translational Medicine
  • Spatial transcriptomics reveal neuron-astrocyte synergy in long-term memory, 2024, Nature
  • Persistent transcriptional programmes are associated with remote memory, 2020, Nature
  • RTN4/NoGo-receptor binding to BAI adhesion-GPCRs regulates neuronal development, 2021, Cell

Frequent co-authors in Südhof's work include:

  • Marius Wernig
  • Kifayathullah Liakath-Ali
  • Jinye Dai
  • Christian Rosenmund
  • Jinzhao Wang

Thomas C. Südhof's publications appear predominantly in these venues:

  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • Nature
  • Neuron
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Nature Communications

Awards and honors received by Südhof include:

  • Fellow of the Royal Society, United Kingdom (2017)
  • German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2015) in Neurosciences
  • Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (2013)
  • Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (2013)
  • Nobel Prize (2013) for discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in cells
  • Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2010)
  • Kavli Prize (2010) for discovering the molecular basis of neurotransmitter release
  • Member of the National Academy of Medicine (2007)
  • Metlife Foundation Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer's Disease (2003)
  • Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2002)
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1999)
  • W. Alden Spencer Award, College of Physicians and Surgeons (1993)
  • Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts

Best Publications

  • The synaptic vesicle cycle

    Thomas C. Südhof

  • Direct conversion of fibroblasts to functional neurons by defined factors

    Thomas Vierbuchen;Austin Ostermeier;Zhiping P. Pang;Yuko Kokubu

  • The synaptic vesicle cycle: a cascade of protein–protein interactions

    Thomas C. Südhof

  • Neuroligins and Neurexins Link Synaptic Function to Cognitive Disease

    Thomas C. Südhof

  • Membrane Fusion: Grappling with SNARE and SM Proteins

    Thomas C. Südhof;James E. Rothman

  • α-Synuclein promotes SNARE-complex assembly in vivo and in vitro

    Jacqueline Burre;Manu Sharma;Theodoros Tsetsenis;Vladimir L. Buchman

  • Synaptotagmin I: a major Ca2+ sensor for transmitter release at a central synapse.

    Martin Geppert;Yukiko Goda;Robert E. Hammer;Cai Li

  • Rapid Single-Step Induction of Functional Neurons from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

    Yingsha Zhang;Chang Hui Pak;Yan Han;Henrik Ahlenius

  • Membrane Fusion and Exocytosis

    Reinhard Jahn;Thomas C. Südhof

  • A Transcriptively Active Complex of APP with Fe65 and Histone Acetyltransferase Tip60

    Xinwei Cao;Thomas C. Südhof

  • Synaptic Assembly of the Brain in the Absence of Neurotransmitter Secretion

    M Verhage;A S Maia;J J Plomp;A B Brussaard

  • Botulinum neurotoxin A selectively cleaves the synaptic protein SNAP-25

    Juan Blasi;Juan Blasi;Edwin R. Chapman;Egenhard Link;Thomas Binz

  • Induction of human neuronal cells by defined transcription factors

    Zhiping P. Pang;Nan Yang;Thomas Vierbuchen;Austin Ostermeier

  • Neurotransmitter Release: The Last Millisecond in the Life of a Synaptic Vesicle

    Thomas C. Südhof

  • Synaptotagmin: a calcium sensor on the synaptic vesicle surface

    Nils Brose;Alexander G. Petrenko;Thomas C. Südhof;Reinhard Jahn

  • The Presynaptic Active Zone

    Thomas C. Südhof

  • A Neuroligin-3 Mutation Implicated in Autism Increases Inhibitory Synaptic Transmission in Mice

    Katsuhiko Tabuchi;Jacqueline Blundell;Mark R. Etherton;Robert E. Hammer

  • α-Synuclein Cooperates with CSPα in Preventing Neurodegeneration

    Sreeganga Chandra;Gilbert Gallardo;Rafael Fernández-Chacón;Oliver M. Schlüter

  • Synaptotagmin I functions as a calcium regulator of release probability

    Rafael Fernández-Chacón;Andreas Königstorfer;Stefan H. Gerber;Jesús García

  • The LDL Receptor Gene: A Mosaic of Exons Shared with Different Proteins

    Thomas C. Südhof;Joseph L. Goldstein;Michael S. Brown;David W. Russell

Frequent Co-Authors

Josep Rizo
Josep Rizo The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Reinhard Jahn
Reinhard Jahn Max Planck Society
Robert C. Malenka
Robert C. Malenka Stanford University
Marius Wernig
Marius Wernig Stanford University
Christian Rosenmund
Christian Rosenmund Charité - University Medicine Berlin
Markus Missler
Markus Missler University of Münster
Pascal S. Kaeser
Pascal S. Kaeser Harvard University
Axel T. Brunger
Axel T. Brunger Stanford University
Nils Brose
Nils Brose Max Planck Society
Weiping Han
Weiping Han Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology

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