Thomas Jentsch

Thomas J. Jentsch (born April 24, 1953) is a German molecular physiologist and expert in ion‑transport biology whose work has helped shape the understanding of chloride channel families and their role in human physiology and disease. He leads the Section for Physiology and Pathology of Ion Transport at the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) in Berlin and has also been affiliated (until 2023) with the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine. His research includes the cloning, structural and functional characterisation of the CLC (chloride channel/Cl⁻/H⁺‑exchanger) gene family, the discovery of their roles in human disorders (such as myotonia, osteopetrosis, kidney disease), and the more recent identification of volume‑regulated anion channels (VRAC) and acid‑activated anion channels (ASOR). His lab has also identified the four neuronal members of the KCNQ (Kv7) family of potassium channels and discovered their role in epilepsy and deafness, and studied the roles of all KCC potassium-chloride cotransporters using genetic mouse models.

Early life and education Thomas J. Jentsch studied both medicine and physics at the Freie Universität Berlin. They also more recently found that the volume‑regulated anion channel (VRAC) is composed of LRRC8 heteromers and molecularly identified the acid‑activated anion channel (ASOR/TMEM206), another key Cl⁻ channel with physiological relevance.

Awards and Honours Thomas J. Jentsch has received numerous awards over his career, reflecting contributions to ion-channel biology. In 1995, he was awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for his work on chloride channels. In recognition of his scientific achievements, he was granted an Honorary Doctorate (Dr. h.c.) by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in 2017. He has also received the International Prize for Translational Neuroscience (1999), the Hansen Family Award (2000), Feldberg Foundation Prize (2000), the Hodgkin-Huxley-Katz Prize Lecture (2006), Adolf-Fick Prize (2004), Homer W. Smith Award for Nephrology (2004), and the Ernst Jung Prize for medicine (2001). He is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, the Academia Europaea, the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg and the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Selected publications

Jentsch, T. J. Discovery of CLC transport proteins: cloning, structure, function and pathophysiology. Journal of Physiology 593, no. 18 (2015): 4091–4109. DOI: 10.1113/JP270043. Jentsch, T. J. et al. The CLC chloride channel family. Pflügers Archiv – European Journal of Physiology 437, Suppl 1 (1999): F172–F175. Jentsch, T. J., Pusch, M. CLC chloride channels and transporters: structure, function, physiology and disease. Physiological Reviews 98, (2018): 1493-1590. Voss, F. K.; Ullrich, F.; Münch, J..... Jentsch, T.J. . Identification of LRRC8 heteromers as an essential component of the volume-regulated anion channel VRAC. Science 344, no. 6184 (2014): 634–638. Ullrich, F., Blin, S... Jentsch, T.J. Identification of TMEM206 proteins as pore of PAORAC/ASOR acid-sensitive chloride channels. eLife (2019) e49187 Jentsch, T.J. Neuronal KCNQ potassium channels: physiology and role in disease. Nature Rev Neuroscience 1 (2000): 21-30.