Middle‑aged person with short, dark, wavy hair smiles softly at the camera. They are wearing a dark blue shirt, and the background shows a bright room with large windows and blurred office equipment.”

Thomas Schwarz, Ph.D.

Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology in the Department of Neurology
Boston Children's Hospital
Schwarz Lab Website

Thomas Schwarz, Ph.D. – Faculty Profile

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Title: Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology in the Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital.

The Aim

The Schwarz Lab studies the inner workings of neurons, including how they transport essential materials and how mitochondria sustain them. The lab aims to reveal how breakdowns in these processes contribute to disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and optic neuropathy.

The Impact

The Schwarz Lab investigates how nerve cells keep their many parts healthy and connected, focusing on how organelles like mitochondria or molecules like RNA are delivered across long distances. By uncovering the basics of nerve cell maintenance and transport, their work sheds light on how failures in these systems can lead to disorders like Parkinson’s disease and neuropathy. Their research bridges fundamental cell biology and neuroscience, helping to reveal how brain cells grow, adapt, and break down in both health and disease.

A Closer Look

Article: How Mitochondria Stay Still in Neurons , The Scientist, March 2024. This article explains how brain cells use a helper protein to hold their “power plants” (mitochondria) in the right spots so they can reliably fuel learning and memory.

Article: New Research Offers Hope to Preserve Vision in Autosomal Dominant Optic Atrophy , News Medical Life Sciences, July 2025. The article describes how Dr. Thomas Schwarz’s team discovered that shutting down a single protein called SARM1 in a mouse model can protect the eye’s vision‑carrying nerve cells, offering a promising new path to preserve sight in people with autosomal dominant optic atrophy.

Contact

Email: thomas.schwarz@childrens.harvard.edu
Lab website: www.schwarzlab.org

Publications View
Absence of synaptotagmin disrupts excitation-secretion coupling during synaptic transmission.
Authors: Authors: Broadie K, Bellen HJ, DiAntonio A, Littleton JT, Schwarz TL.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
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Genetic analysis of neurotransmitter release at the synapse.
Authors: Authors: Schwarz TL.
Curr Opin Neurobiol
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The effect on synaptic physiology of synaptotagmin mutations in Drosophila.
Authors: Authors: DiAntonio A, Schwarz TL.
Neuron
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Distinctive pharmacology and kinetics of cloned neuronal Ca2+ channels and their possible counterparts in mammalian CNS neurons.
Authors: Authors: Zhang JF, Randall AD, Ellinor PT, Horne WA, Sather WA, Tanabe T, Schwarz TL, Tsien RW.
Neuropharmacology
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Identification and characterization of Drosophila genes for synaptic vesicle proteins.
Authors: Authors: DiAntonio A, Burgess RW, Chin AC, Deitcher DL, Scheller RH, Schwarz TL.
J Neurosci
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Differential expression of transcripts from syb, a Drosophila melanogaster gene encoding VAMP (synaptobrevin) that is abundant in non-neuronal cells.
Authors: Authors: Chin AC, Burgess RW, Wong BR, Schwarz TL, Scheller RH.
Gene
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Synaptic transmission persists in synaptotagmin mutants of Drosophila.
Authors: Authors: DiAntonio A, Parfitt KD, Schwarz TL.
Cell
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Functional expression of a rapidly inactivating neuronal calcium channel.
Authors: Authors: Ellinor PT, Zhang JF, Randall AD, Zhou M, Schwarz TL, Tsien RW, Horne WA.
Nature
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Molecular diversity of Ca2+ channel alpha 1 subunits from the marine ray Discopyge ommata.
Authors: Authors: Horne WA, Ellinor PT, Inman I, Zhou M, Tsien RW, Schwarz TL.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
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Alteration of ionic selectivity of a K+ channel by mutation of the H5 region.
Authors: Authors: Yool AJ, Schwarz TL.
Nature
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