Ralf Schülein studied Biology at the University of Würzburg and completed his graduate work with a PhD thesis on toxin transport in the laboratory of Werner Goebel (Department of Microbiology, University of Würzburg).

He then joined the laboratory of Walter Rosenthal (Department of Pharmacology, University of Gießen) as a Postdoc and started his work on the trafficking mechanisms of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). 

Ralf Schülein moved to the FMP in 1997. The “Habilitation” in Pharmacology and Toxicology and an adjunct professorship were awarded by the Charité University Medicine Berlin.