Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Stefan Gründer

Curriculum Vitae

1983 - 1989
Studies of Biology at the University of Cologne

1989 - 1990
Community service at the University of Cologne, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (Division of Audiology)

1990 - 1993
Doctoral work with Thomas J. Jentsch at the centre for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg /ZMNH)

1993
PhD in Biology, University of Hamburg

1993 - 1997
Postdoctoral work with Bernard C. Rossier at the Institute of Pharmacology, Lausanne, Switzerland

1998 - 1999
Labhead at the Department of Otolaryngology, University of Tübingen; Group of J. Peter Ruppersberg

2000 - 2002
Head of a Research Group at the Medical School of the University of Tübingen

2003 - 2004
Research Group Leader at the Department of Physiology, University Tübingen

2004 - 2007
Associate Professor of Physiology, University Würzburg

2007
Acting Chairman of the Physiological Institute II, University Würzburg

since 2008
Full Professor of Physiology (Director), RWTH Aachen

2019 - 2021
President-elect of the German Physiological Society

since 2022
President of the German Physiological Society

Honors and Awards

• Teaching Award Paula (awarded by the students of Aachen Medical School) for the Best Lecture 2011
• Teaching Award Paula (awarded by the students of Aachen Medical School) for the Best Lecture 2014
• Teaching Award Paula (awarded by the students of Aachen Medical School) for the Best Lecture 2020

Faculty Work 

• 2012 - 2016: Dean of Studies

Work as a Referee

Referee for scientific organisations:

• French National Research Agency (ANR)
• Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
• Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO), Belgium
• Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
• German Israeli Foundation (GIF)
• National Science Foundation (NSF), USA
• Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
• Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)

Referee for Scientific Journals (selection):

• Nature
• Nature Chemical Biology
• Nature Communications
• Nature Structural and Molecular Biology
• Cell Reports
• PloS Biology
• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA)
• Journal of Clinical Investigation
• Journal of Neuroscience
• Journal of Biological Chemistry
• Journal of General Physiology
• Journal of Physiology, London

Member of the Editorial Board of the „International Journal of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Pharmacology“

Selected Publications

• Gründer S, Thiemann A, Pusch M und Jentsch TJ.
  Regions involved in the opening of ClC-2 chloride channel by voltage and cell-volume.
  Nature 360: 759 – 762, (1992)
  [demonstration that the ubiquitoulsy expressed chloride channel ClC-2 is sensitive to changes in cell volume]
• Gründer S, Firsov D, Chang SS, Fowler Jaeger N, Gautschi I, Schild S, Lifton RP und Rossier BC.
  A mutation causing pseudohypoaldosteronism type 1 identifies a conserved glycine that is involved in the gating of the epithelial sodium channel.
  EMBO J. 16: 899 – 907, (1997)
  [demonstration that a mutation leading to the salt-wasting syndrome pseudohypoaldosteronism type I reduces the open probability of the epithelial Na+ channel, explaining disease pathophysiology]
• Chen X, Kalbacher H und Gründer S
  The tarantula toxin Psalmotoxin 1 inhibits Acid Sensing Ion Channel (ASIC) 1a by increasing ist apparent H+ affinity.
  J. Gen. Physiol. 126 (1), 71-79 (2005)
  [demonstration that the spider toxin PcTx1 is a gating-modifier of acid-sensing ion channels]
• Golubovic A, Kuhn A, Williamson M, Kalbacher H, Holstein TW, Grimmelikhuijzen CJ und Gründer S
  A peptide-gated ion channel from the freshwater polyp Hydra.
  J. Biol. Chem., 282, 35098-35103 (2007)
  [first cloning of a ligand-gated ion channel from Hydra, directly gated by a peptide of the Hydra nervous system]
• Bartoi T, Augustinowski K, Polleichtner G, Gründer S & Ulbrich MH
  Acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC) 1a/2a heteromers have a flexible 2:1/1:2 stoichiometry.
  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 111(2), 8281-8286 (2014)
  [demonstration of a trimeric stoichiometry for ASICs; demonstration that the 1a/2a heteromer exists in two stoichiometries]
• Reimers C, Lee C-H, Kalbacher H, Tian Y, Hung C-H, Schmidt A, Prokop L, Kauferstein S, Mebs D, Chen C-C und Gründer S
  Identification of the a cono-RFamide from the venom of Conus textile that targets ASIC3 and enhances muscle pain.
  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA 114(17), E3507-E3515 (2017)
  [isolation of a novel neuropeptide from the venom of a cone snail and demonstration that it modulates acid-sensing ion channel 3]

All Publications