Dr. rer. nat. (PhD), Genetics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

I am a developmental biologist who is interested in all aspects of molecular evolution and development.

My interest in germ cells stems from thesis research in Nicole Rebscher’s lab, who was studying Platynereis dumerillii germ cell development at the University of Heidelberg. After my PhD in Wim Damen’s lab at the University of Cologne, where I investigated spider segmentation, I first entered the Extavour lab as a Postdoc in 2009 to examine the origin of spider germ cells. I next finished a project studying duplicated spider Hox genes in Alistair McGregor’s lab at Oxford Brookes University.

I then joined the lab of Jennifer Fish at UMass Lowell as a postdoc and lab manager, where I co-supervised students working on several projects studying molecular, cellular, and developmental mechanisms generating phenotypic variation that contribute to both disease and evolution of the vertebrate jaw. I gained experience working with a range of vertebrate embryos and using cell culture and single-cell techniques.

I’m excited to re-join the Extavour Lab and apply my diverse background to my scientific roots in my new role as a lab manager!

vasa and piwi are required for mitotic integrity in early embryogenesis in the spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum. Schwager, E.E., Meng, Y. and Extavour, C.G. Developmental Biology, 402(2): 276-290 (2015). [PubMed]

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oskar Predates the Evolution of Germ Plasm in Insects. Ewen-Campen, B., Srouji, J.R., Schwager, E.E. and Extavour, C.G. Current Biology, 22(23): 2278-2283 (2012).

Related Media:

• oskar Reveals Missing Link in Co-optive Evolution
• Solving a biological mystery: researchers find gene related to germ cell formation older than thought

[PubMed]

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The molecular machinery of germ line specification. Ewen-Campen, B., Schwager, E.E., Extavour, C.G Molecular Reproduction and Development, 77(1): 3-18 (2009). [PubMed]

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*Dowrey T., *Schwager E.E., Duong J., Merkuri F., Zarate Y.A. and Fish J.L. Satb2 Regulates proliferation and nuclear integrity of pre-osteoblasts. Bone 127: 488-498 (2019). *contributed equally

*Schwager E.E., *Sharma P.P., *Clark T., *Leite D.J., *Wierschin T. et al. The house spider genome reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication during arachnid evolution. BMC Biol 15: 62 (2017). *contributed equally

Schwager E.E., Schönauer A., Leite D.J., Sharma P.P. and McGregor A.P. Chelicerata. In: Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Invertebrates. Vol. 3: Ecdysozoa I – Non-Tetraconata. Andreas Wanninger, editor. Springer (2015).

Posnien N., Zeng V., Schwager E.E., Pechmann M., Hilbrant M., Keefe J.D., Damen W.G.M., Prpic N.-M., McGregor A.P. and Extavour C.G. A Comprehensive Reference Transcriptome Resource for the Common House Spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum. PLoS ONE, 9 (8): e104885 (2014).

M., McGregor A.P. and Damen W.G.M. hunchback functions as a gap gene during anterior segmentation in the spider Achaearanea tepidariorum. Curr Biol 19(16): 1333-40 (2009).