Bernd Nilius

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Bernd Nilius (born  July 16, 1945 in Halle (Saale) ) is a German physiologist and cell biologist . From 1985 to 1990 he was Professor of Physiology at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg , from 1990/1991 at the Medical Academy Erfurt and from 1993 to 2010 at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven . He has been a member of Academia Europaea since 1990 and has also been a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization since 2007 . In the field of ion channel research, he is one of the world's leading scientists today.

Life

Bernd Nilius in 1945 in Halle (Saale) born and graduated from 1964 to 1970 to study medicine , which he in 1971 with the promotion at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg finished. He then worked as a research assistant at the University's Physiological Institute until 1980, at the same time he studied mathematics from 1971 and graduated in 1975 as a qualified mathematician. In 1978 he completed his habilitation in Halle . From 1980 he worked as a lecturer at the University of Halle-Wittenberg and from 1985 as a professor of physiology. In 1990 he was offered the chair of physiology at the Medical Academy in Erfurt , where he worked until 1991.

From 1992 to 1993 he headed the “Molecular Cell Physiology” research group, which is affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and based in Jena . In 1993 he moved to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium , where he took on a full professorship for physiology and was head of the laboratory for ion channel research in the department of molecular cell biology until his retirement in 2010.

Bernd Nilius is married to a pediatrician and has two sons.

Scientific work

The focus of Bernd Nilius' research was electrophysiology , in particular the structure, function, regulation and pathophysiological significance of calcium channels and TRP channels , an ion channel family with diverse functions in sensory and pain perception . He was one of the co-discoverers of the temperature dependence of TRP channels and described the underlying molecular mechanisms. He also recognized the importance of the TRPM4 channel in various diseases.

In the field of ion channel research, he is one of the leading and most frequently cited contemporary scientists worldwide. He has published two monographs and more than 400 scientific publications , which have been cited over 15,000 times, and has served on the editorial board of several physiological journals. Since 2006 he has been Editor-in-Chief of Pflüger's Archive - European Journal of Physiology . In 2000/2001 he was President of the Belgian Society for Physiology and Pharmacology.

Awards

Bernd Nilius was a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR from July 1990 until the academy was dissolved in July 1992. In addition, he has been an external corresponding member of the Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine since 1989 and has belonged to the Academia Europaea since 1990 and to the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). In 1988 he received the Rudolf Virchow Prize and in 2007 for his research on TRP channels the Prix ​​de la Fondation de Physiopathologie Professeur Lucien Dautrebande of the Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine , awarded every three years and endowed with 100,000 euros .

Works (selection)

  • Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels. Series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology. Volume 179. Berlin and Heidelberg 2007 (as co-editor)
  • Channelopathies. Berlin and Heidelberg 2010

literature

  • Alexei Verkhratsky, Ole H. Petersen: Bernd Nilius: The Bard of Ion Channels. Congratulations on 65th Birthday. In: Pflügers Archive European Journal of Physiology. 460 (4) / 2010. Springer, ISSN  0031-6768 , pp. 691-694
  • Nilius, Bernd . In: Werner Hartkopf:The Berlin Academy of Sciences. Its members and award winners 1700–1990. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1992,ISBN 3-05-002153-5, p. 252.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Nilius, Bernd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physiologist and cell biologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 16, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle (Saale)