Erwin Neher

German biophysicist (1944–)

Neher was born in Landsberg, Germany. After attending the Technical University of Munich and the University of Wisconsin, he joined the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, in 1970, as a research associate. In 1972 he moved to the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, being appointed research director in 1983. Two periods of research in America took him to Yale University (1975–76) and the California Institute of Technology (1988–89).

Neher is best known for his studies of the minute channels in the membranes of living cells that allow ions to pass in and out of the cell. In the mid-1970s, working in collaboration with Bert Sakmann, Neher developed the so-called `patch-clamp technique’ to detect the tiny electrical currents produced by the passage of ions through the membrane. Detection posed considerable technical challenges, given that the currents associated with each channel are of the order of 10^–12 ampere, and the channels have a diameter comparable to the diameter of the ions.

The technique involved applying the tip of a saline-containing micropipette to the cell's membrane and applying suction to form a seal around the patch of membrane. The currents produced by the ions passing through the ion channel was monitored using a special amplifier. The technique had the great advantage of eliminating electrical noise generated by other parts of the membrane, which hitherto had obscured signals from any one channel.

Using their technique, Neher and Sakmann were able to demonstrate that the ion channels are either ‘open’ or ‘shut’, i.e., producing an ‘all or nothing’ signal. Also, each channel is specific to a particular type of ion.

The patch-clamp technique has proved itself to be both sensitive and elegant, and has found application in many fields of basic and applied research. Ion channels are involved in a range of biological processes, such as the generation of nerve impulses, the fertilization of eggs, and the regulation of the heartbeat. The way in which their behavior is altered by disease or drugs can have far-reaching implications.

This crucial development in cellular research techniques earned Neher and Sakmann the 1991 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine.

Erwin Neher
Erwin Neher (2007)
Born	March 20, 1944(1944-03-20) Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria, Germany
Nationality	German
Fields	biophysics
Institutions	University of Wisconsin–Madison Yale University Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
Alma mater	Technical University of Munich
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1991 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 1987

Erwin Neher (born March 20, 1944 in Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria) is a German biophysicist.

Erwin Neher studied physics at the Technical University of Munich from 1963 to 1966. In 1966, He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the US. He spent a year at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and earned a Masters Degree in Biophysics.

In 1986, he was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University together with Bert Sakmann. In 1987, he received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, which is the highest honour awarded in German research. Along with Bert Sakmann, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1991 for the development of the patch-clamp technique^[1][2][3][4], work Neher began as a postdoctoral associate in the laboratory of Charles F. Stevens at Yale. He is now a director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and heads its Department for Membrane Biophysics. He is also a Professor at the University of Göttingen and a co-chair of the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen.

References

1. ^ Neher E, Sakmann B (March 1992). "The patch clamp technique". Scientific American 266 (3): 44–51. PMID 1374932. 
2. ^ Neher E (1992). "Correction for liquid junction potentials in patch clamp experiments". Methods in Enzymology 207: 123–31. doi:10.1016/0076-6879(92)07008-C. PMID 1528115. 
3. ^ Neher E (September 1988). "The use of the patch clamp technique to study second messenger-mediated cellular events". Neuroscience 26 (3): 727–34. doi:10.1016/0306-4522(88)90094-2. PMID 2462183. 
4. ^ Neher E, Sakmann B, Steinbach JH (July 1978). "The extracellular patch clamp: a method for resolving currents through individual open channels in biological membranes". Pflügers Archiv 375 (2): 219–28. doi:10.1007/BF00584247. PMID 567789. 

Bibliography

Neher's published works include the following:

• Elektronische Messtechnik in der Physiologie. Berlin, New York, Springer-Verlag, 1974.
• Single-channel recording / edited by Bert Sakmann and Erwin Neher. New York : Plenum Press, c1983. ISBN 0306414198
• Single-channel recording / edited by Bert Sakmann and Erwin Neher. 2nd ed. New York : Plenum Press, c1995. ISBN 030644870X

External links

• Nobel autobiography
• Scientific genealogy
• Freeview video 'An Interview with Erwin Neher' by the Vega Science Trust
• The Official Site of Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize

v • d • e Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine Baruch Blumberg / Daniel Gajdusek (1976) · Roger Guillemin / Andrew Schally / Rosalyn Yalow (1977) · Werner Arber / Daniel Nathans / Hamilton O. Smith (1978) · Allan Cormack / Godfrey Hounsfield (1979) · Baruj Benacerraf / Jean Dausset / George Snell (1980) · Roger Sperry / David H. Hubel / Torsten Wiesel (1981) · Sune Bergström / Bengt I. Samuelsson / John Vane (1982) · Barbara McClintock (1983) · Niels Jerne / Georges Köhler / César Milstein (1984) · Michael Brown / Joseph L. Goldstein (1985) · Stanley Cohen / Rita Levi-Montalcini (1986) · Susumu Tonegawa (1987) · James W. Black / Gertrude B. Elion / George H. Hitchings (1988) · J. Michael Bishop / Harold E. Varmus (1989) · Joseph Murray / E. Donnall Thomas (1990) · Erwin Neher / Bert Sakmann (1991) · Edmond Fischer / Edwin G. Krebs (1992) · Richard J. Roberts / Phillip Sharp (1993) · Alfred G. Gilman / Martin Rodbell (1994) · Edward B. Lewis / Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard / Eric F. Wieschaus (1995) · Peter C. Doherty / Rolf M. Zinkernagel (1996) · Stanley B. Prusiner (1997) · Robert F. Furchgott / Louis Ignarro / Ferid Murad (1998) · Günter Blobel (1999) · Arvid Carlsson / Paul Greengard / Eric Kandel (2000) Complete roster · 1901–1925 · 1926–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present

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