German biophysicist
Peter Hegemann (born 11 December 1954) is a Hertie Senior Research Chair for Neurosciences and a professor of Experimental Biophysics at the Department of
Biology , Faculty of
Life Sciences ,
Humboldt University of Berlin , Germany.
[3]
[4] He is known for his discovery of
channelrhodopsin , a type of
ion channels
regulated by
light , thereby serving as a light sensor. This created the field of
optogenetics , a technique that controls the activities of specific
neurons by applying light. He has received numerous accolades, including the
Rumford Prize , the
Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine , and the
Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research .
Early life and education
Hegemann was born in
Münster in 1954, but grew up in
Aachen .
[5] Many in his immediate and extended family are doctors, including his parents, brother, and both grandfathers. He was educated in a humanities-oriented
gymnasium (humanistisches Gymnasium ) for secondary school, which he disliked for his lack of interest in
classical studies .
[5] He liked science subjects and was at first interested in
discovery of new territories and then in the
outer space . Eventually, he went to the
University of Münster in 1975 to study
chemistry , transferring to the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich two years later to switch to
biochemistry .
[5]
After graduating in 1980, Hegemann pursued his PhD at the
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in the research group of
Dieter Oesterhelt ,
[5] who has just become the Director of the institute.
[6] He completed it in 1984.
[7]
Career
Having won a fellowship for his PhD thesis, Hegemann went to
Syracuse University in 1985 as a
postdoctoral fellow in Kenneth W. Foster's lab for a year. After returning to Germany, he was offered a five-year position as a
principal investigator at the
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry .
[8]
In 1993, Hegemann joined the Department of
Biochemistry of the
University of Regensburg as a professor. He moved to the
Humboldt University of Berlin in 2004 and became a professor of Experimental
Biophysics .
[7] In 2015, he was endowed with a Hertie Senior Research Chair for Neurosciences.
[9]
Research
Hegemann's research into light-gated
ion transport began in his PhD years, when he investigated the structure and function of
halorhodopsin , an
active ion transporter found in a type of
archaea called
haloarchaea that uses light energy to move
chloride
ions against the gradient.
[10]
[11] As part of his PhD project, he characterized this protein in
Halobacterium salinarum , discovering that yellow light activates halorhodopsin.
[12]
[13] When halorhodopsin is expressed in
neurons and activated by light, the influx of chloride ions shifts the neuron to more negative
electric potential , preventing
action potential generation and inactivating the neurons.
[14]
A 1984 article by Kenneth W. Foster of
Syracuse University suggested that
rhodopsins would also serve as light detector in the
green alga
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii .
[15] This also prompted Hegemann to spend a year with Foster as a
postdoctoral fellow .
[16] Hegemann continued characterizing this rhodopsin after returning to Germany. Working on another green alga, he found that it had a fast electrical response (by ion movement through
ion channel ) to light stimulation, and proposed that the ion channel and the light-detecting rhodopsin were one single
protein complex .
[17]
[18]
[19]
In 2002, collaborating with
Georg Nagel and
Ernst Bamberg , Hegemann made the landmark identification of the
gene for this rhodopsin and named it
Channelrhodopsin-1 .
[20] The team identified the second
channelrhodopsin gene,
Channelrhodopsin-2 , the next year.
[21] In both studies, they cloned the genes from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and expressed them in the
oocytes of
African clawed frog . Upon blue light stimulation, electrical currents was detected in the oocytes.
[22] When channelrhodopsins are expressed in neurons and stimulated, the ion channel opens so
positively charged
calcium and
sodium ions can enter the neurons, creating a more positive electric potential inside the neurons and activating them. This is the opposite effect of halorhodopsin activation.
[23]
The field of
optogenetics took off from these discoveries. In 2005, Hegemann reported expressing channelrhodopsin in chicken
embryos , their movement can be controlled with light stimulation.
[24] This came in the same year as another study by a collaboration between
Karl Deisseroth ,
Edward Boyden ,
Feng Zhang , Georg Nagel and Ernst Bamberg, which found light could lead to action potential in cultured neurons expressing channelrhodopsin.
[25] Teaming up with Deisseroth, Hegemann continued advancing optogenetics by developing rhodopsin variants that could react faster and more accurately,
[26] detect different wavelengths of light
[27] and conduct different ions.
[28]
[29]
Using optogenetic techniques, Hegemann and collaborators have confirmed that the unbalanced activity of
excitatory and
inhibitory neurons causes behavioral deficits of
mental disorders .
[30]
Honours and awards
References
^
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^
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"The chromoprotein of halorhodopsin is the light-driven electrogenic chloride pump in Halobacterium halobium" .
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^ Braun, Franz-Josef; Hegemann, Peter (1999).
"Two Light-Activated Conductances in the Eye of the Green Alga Volvox carteri " .
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^ Nagel, Georg; Ollig, Doris; Fuhrmann, Markus; Kateriya, Suneel; Musti, Anna Maria; Bamberg, Ernst; Hegemann, Peter (2002).
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^ Nagel, Georg; Szellas, Tanjef; Huhn, Wolfram; Kateriya, Suneel; Adeishvili, Nona; Berthold, Peter; Ollig, Doris; Hegemann, Peter; Bamberg, Ernst (2003).
"Channelrhodopsin-2, a directly light-gated cation-selective membrane channel" .
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 100 (24): 13940–13945.
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^ Friedman, Jeffery M. (2021).
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^ Li, Xiang; Gutierrez, Davina V.; Hanson, M. Gartz; Han, Jing; Mark, Melanie D.; Chiel, Hillel; Hegemann, Peter;
Landmesser, Lynn T. ; Herlitze, Stefan (2005).
"Fast noninvasive activation and inhibition of neural and network activity by vertebrate rhodopsin and green algae channelrhodopsin" . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 102 (49): 17816–17821.
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^
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^
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^ Zhang, Feng; Prigge, Matthias; Beyrière, Florent; Tsunoda, Satoshi P.; Mattis, Joanna; Yizhar, Ofer; Hegemann, Peter; Deisseroth, Karl (2008).
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^ Wietek, Jonas; Wiegert, J. Simon; Adeishvili, Nona; Schneider, Franziska; Watanabe, Hiroshi; Tsunoda, Satoshi P.; Vogt, Arend; Elstner, Marcus; Oertner, Thomas G.; Hegemann, Peter (25 April 2014).
"Conversion of Channelrhodopsin into a Light-Gated Chloride Channel" . Science . 344 (6182): 409–412.
Bibcode :
2014Sci...344..409W .
doi :
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ISSN
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PMID
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^ Fernandez Lahore, Rodrigo G.; Pampaloni, Niccolò P.; Schiewer, Enrico; Heim, M.-Marcel; Tillert, Linda; Vierock, Johannes; Oppermann, Johannes; Walther, Jakob; Schmitz, Dietmar; Owald, David; Plested, Andrew J. R.; Rost, Benjamin R.; Hegemann, Peter (21 December 2022).
"Calcium-permeable channelrhodopsins for the photocontrol of calcium signalling" . Nature Communications . 13 (1): 7844.
Bibcode :
2022NatCo..13.7844F .
doi :
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ISSN
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PMC
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PMID
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^ Yizhar, Ofer; Fenno, Lief E.; Prigge, Matthias; Schneider, Franziska; Davidson, Thomas J.; O’Shea, Daniel J.; Sohal, Vikaas S.; Goshen, Inbal; Finkelstein, Joel; Paz, Jeanne T.; Stehfest, Katja; Fudim, Roman; Ramakrishnan, Charu; Huguenard, John R.; Hegemann, Peter; Deisseroth, Karl (2011).
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^
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^
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"Peter Hegemann" .
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American Academy of Arts and Sciences . 30 January 2019. Archived from
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"Peter Hegemann" .
Warren Alpert Foundation Prize . Archived from
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^
"The 2020 Prize in Life Science & Medicine" . Shaw Prize Foundation. Archived from
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^
"Light-sensitive microbial proteins and optogenetics" .
Lasker Foundation . Archived from
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^
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Irving Medical Center . 7 September 2022. Archived from
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