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| Hans Bloemendal Medal |
Prof. Bernd Nilius
The Hans Bloemendal Medal for 2011 is awarded to Professor Bernd Nilius, in recognition of his groundbreaking studies in biomedical sciences. He is an outstanding physiologist who has dedicated his research career to electrophysiological analysis of ion channels in health and disease.
Bernd Nilius was one of the first scientist to investigate calcium channels in heart muscle. Using the sucrose gap voltage-clamp technique he was able to measure, for the first time, the acetylcholine-induced outward currents associated with activation of muscarinic cholinoreceptors in atrial cardiomyocytes. His pioneering work continued in the laboratory of Dick Tsien, where he made seminal observations of low- and high-threshold single-channel calcium currents. After many fruitful years in Halle, and a brief period at the Max Planck Research Group for Molecular Cell Physiology in Jena, Bernd Nilius became full professor of Physiology at KU Leuven.
Arguably Bernd Nilius is best recognized for his work on transient receptor potential (TRP) channels. He has been instrumental in the discovery and characterization of various members of the TRP family, most notably TRPC3/4, TRPV4/5/6 and TRPM 4/5/6 and TRPV1. His never-ending drive to understand these channels in the context of molecular mechanisms of disease meant that he has been influential in our understanding of the temperature-dependent gating of TRPs. Bernd Nilius demonstrated the role of TRPM5 in temperature-sensitivity of taste and was the first to publish the pathological potential of TRPM4 in variety of diseases.
Bernd Nilius is in no doubt a world leader in ion channel research. Overall, Bernd has published more than 400 papers and chapters, which have been cited more than 14,600 times (current H-index 63). In 2007, The Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine awarded Bernd Nilius the prestigious Lucien Dautrebande Prize in Pathophysiology for his outstanding work on TRP channels.
In short, his enthusiasm for science and intelligent approach to research is remarkable. We hope that Bernd Nilius feels honored by adding the Hans Bloemendal Medal from the Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences (NCMLS) to his impressive list of achievements and awards.
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About Hans Bloemendal
Hans Bloemendal has made significant contributions to the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology throughout his illustrious career and as a prominent scientist at the forefront of research on lens proteins He was the first to provide a new insight into the complex behaviour of lens proteins, demonstrating that crystallin heterogeneity was due to a combination of multimeric associations of different crystallin polypeptides. From 1965 to 1988, he was full professor of Biochemistry at the Radboud University Nijmegen, at both the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Medicine. His research group was the first to isolate translatable mRNAs coding for crystallin proteins, in a time when messenger RNA isolation was still in its infancy. Once again as a pioneer, he turned to the primary structure of crystallin polypeptides, cDNA and gene cloning. His cell biology studies not only included the spatial distribution of crystallins in the lens, lens cell culture, viral transformation of lens epithelial cells, lens aging and cataract, but also beautiful work on the cytoskeleton and plasma membrane in the lens. His love and devotion to molecular life sciences is illustrated by the fact that, at his age he is still active in the field: he is a distinguished example and role model for young students and scientists alike. Next to his scientific career, Hans Bloemendal was active in many other areas. The most important of these is of course his singing. Already for more than half a century he has been the first cantor at the most important synagogue in Amsterdam. His ritual Jewish songs have been recorded many times.
Next to his scientific career, Hans Bloemendal was active in many other areas. The most important of these is of course his singing. Already for more than half a century he has been the first cantor at the most important synagogue in Amsterdam. His ritual Jewish songs have been recorded many times.
The Hans Bloemendal lecture award has been bestowed by the Hans Bloemendal Foundation on a number of very prominent scientists. The scholarly winners of the Bloemendal prize are J. Piatigorski (1988) for his research on the eye lens, G. Blobel (1990) for his work on intracellular transport, Y. Nishizuka (1992) for his work on protein kinase C, W.W. Franke (1994) for his work on desmosomal cell adhesion proteins, A. Wyllie (1996) for his research on apoptosis, P. Agre (2007) for his discovery of water channels (aquaporins), Aaron Ciechanover (2008) for his groundbreaking research on the ubiquitinmediated degradation of proteins, Shizuo Akira (2009) for his pioneering work on elucidating the roles of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and to Bruce Spiegelman (2010) for his work on transcriptional control of energy homeostasis.