Prof. Dr. Irene Schulz-Hofer (✝︎)

Irene Schulz is distinguished for important contributions to the field of cell physiology, particularly of enzyme-, electrolyte-, water secretion and regulation of cytosolic Ca2+ concentrations in exocrine glands with emphasis on the "exocrine pancreas". In 1983 at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysics and in cooperation with english scientists her research group discovered inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate as the intracellular messenger of hormones which lead to release of Ca2+ from the endoplasmic reticulum into the cytosol of different cells.From 1991 to 2006 she directed the department "Physiology II" at the Physiological Institute of the Saarland University. There her research foussed on signal transduction, regulation of cellular Ca2+ transporters and -channels, intracellular vesicle transport and molecular mechanisms, which lead to acute pancreatitis. She retirered in 2006 and is now associated as guest at the University of Konstanz.