Integrative Physiology

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITIONS:
Professor of Physiology, Emeritus (since 2010), Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Laboratory Ion Channel Research, KU Leuven, Leuven

EDUCATION:
1970 MD
1975 Mathematics, Dipl Math, written thesis
1978 habilitation, PhD in Physiology (DrSc)

MEMBERSHIPS:
• 1971-1990 Society of German Physiologists (East)
• 1989 Foreign Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of Medical Sciences Belgium
• 1990 Member of the Academia Europea
• 1990-1993 Corresponding member of The Academy of Sciences to Berlin, Germany
• 1990-1993 Member of the German Physiological Society
• 1991-1993 Foreign member of The Physiological Society, UK
• 1993- Ordinary member of The Physiological Society, UK
• 1994- Member of the Belgian Society of Physiology & Pharmacology
• 1998- Member of the Society of General Physiologists, USA
• 1998- Member of the American Physiological Society
• 2000- Honorary Member of the Slovak Physiological Society
• 2005- Elected Member of the Faculty of the 1000
• 2006- Appointed as Member of the Nomination Committee of the Academia Europaea Section Physiology & Medicine
• 2007- Elected as permanent Member of EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation)

HONORS
• 1979 Research Award 1.Class Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg
• 1980 Johannes Müller Award of the Society of Experimental Medicine Germany
• 1985 Research Award 1.Class of the Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg
• 1987 'Hermann Kolbe Award', research award of the Pharmaceutical Industry
• 1987 Appointment IUPS workshop as 'Principal Instructor and Lecturer', Academia Sinica (China, Shangai, led by Prof Dr RW Tsien)
• 1988 Rudolf Virchow Research Award
• 1997-2001 Nomination as referee panel European Commission for the 'BIOMED' programme
• 1998 Chairman and organizer of the symposium 'Signal transduction in endothelium: mechano-sensing, ion channels and intracellular calcium', World Meeting Life Sciences, INABIS, McMaster University Toronto, Canada
• 1999 Member of the National Science Foundation (Belgium), Commission 'Physiology' (Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, FWO)
• 2000/2001 President of the Belgian Society of Physiology and Pharmacology
• 2002-2006 Consultant of the Pharmaceutical Group NEUROSEARCH (Denmark, UK)
• 2005 Chairman Gordon Research Conference, 'Calcium Signalling', Oxford, session TRP channels
• 2005- Consultant and Advisor of the Pharmaceutical Groups REDPOINT, New Jersey (USA), XENTION (UK), GIVAUDAN (CH), ONO (Japan), Grünenthal (Germany)
• 2006 Dautrebande Award of the Royal Academy of Sciences Belgium awarded by the Belgian Queen
• 2007 Elected Member of EMBO (European Mol Biol Organization), Member Advisory Board EMBO Journals (EMBO J, EMBO Reports, EMBO Mol Medicine)
• 2009 Appointment as foreign scientific advisor for the translational Research Center in Debrecen, Hungary: DERMINOVA: Cutaneous Biology Research Center: Integrating innovation-oriented research activities of the University of Debrecen in order to investigate cutaneous biology and pathomechanisms of diseases affecting large populations
• 2009 Appointment as Honorary Guest Professor at the Medical University Chongqing, China

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
The lab's main interest is the mammalian TRP channel family, a class of structurally related non-selective cation channels, some of which mediate Ca2+-entry in response to activation of phospholipase C (PLC). Others act as cellular sensors that translate fluctuations in environmental parameters, such as thermal (heat, cold), mechanical (touch) and chemical (tastants) stimuli, into changes in membrane excitability and second messenger signals, particularly Ca2+.