Heike Wulff, Ph.D., M.S. Pharm.
Professor
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Research/Academic Interests
Dr. Wulff is considered an expert on potassium channel pharmacology and the work in her laboratory focuses on the design of new potassium channel modulators as research tools and as potential drugs. Her laboratory is particularly interested in the voltage-gated Kv1.3 and the calcium-activated KCa3.1 channels in immune cells and in the calcium-activated KCa2/3 channels in the cardiovascular and nervous system. More recent work has focused on the role of Kv1.3 in neuroinflammation in the context of stroke and Alzheimer's disease.
Division
Pharmacology
Undergraduate School
M.S., Christian Albrecht's University, Kiel, Germany 1993
Other School
Ph.D., Medicinal Chemistry, Christian Albrecht's University, Kiel, Germany 1998
Fellowship
Postdoctoral Researcher, UC Irvine, Irvine CA 1999-2003
Highly Cited Researchers (Clarivate Analysis of papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in Web of Science), 2018, 2019
Kaiser Foundation Award for “Excellence in Teaching Basic Sciences,” 2013, 2019
Thomson Reuters list of “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds,” which lists scientists in the top 1% of citations for their field (Pharmacology & Toxicology), 2014
Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, American Heart Association, 2000
Doctoral Thesis with “summa cum laude”, 1998
See: Complete List of Publications
Pressly B, Vasylieva N, Barnych B, Singh V, Singh L, Bruun DA, Hwang SH, Chen YJ, Fettinger JC, Johnnides S, Lein PJ, Yang J, Hammock BD, Wulff H. Comparison of the toxicokinetics of the convulsants picrotoxinin and tetramethylenedisulfotetramine (TETS) in mice. Arch Toxicol. 2020 Jun;94(6):1995-2007. doi:10.1007/s00204-020-02728-z. Epub 2020 Apr 1. PMID:32239239.
Brown BM, Shim H, Christophersen P, Wulff H. Pharmacology of Small- and Intermediate-Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol. 2020 Jan 6;60:219-240. doi:10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010919-023420. Epub 2019 Jul 23. PMID:31337271.
Wulff H, Christophersen P, Colussi P, Chandy KG, Yarov-Yarovoy V. Antibodies and venom peptides: new modalities for ion channels. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2019 May;18(5):339-357. doi:10.1038/s41573-019-0013-8. PMID:30728472.
Nguyen HM, Grössinger EM, Horiuchi M, Davis KW, Jin LW, Maezawa I, Wulff H. Differential Kv1.3, KCa3.1, and Kir2.1 expression in "classically" and "alternatively" activated microglia. Glia. 2017 Jan;65(1):106-121. doi:10.1002/glia.23078. Epub 2016 Oct 3. PMID:27696527.
Feske S, Wulff H, Skolnik EY. Ion channels in innate and adaptive immunity. Annu Rev Immunol. 2015;33:291-353. doi:10.1146/annurev-immunol-032414-112212. PMID:25861976.
Wulff H, Castle NA, Pardo LA. Voltage-gated potassium channels as therapeutic targets. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2009 Dec;8(12):982-1001. doi:10.1038/nrd2983. PMID:19949402.
Wulff H, Zhorov BS. K+ channel modulators for the treatment of neurological disorders and autoimmune diseases. Chem Rev. 2008 May;108(5):1744-73. doi:10.1021/cr078234p. PMID:18476673.
Wulff H, Calabresi PA, Allie R, Yun S, Pennington M, Beeton C, Chandy KG. The voltage-gated Kv1.3 K(+) channel in effector memory T cells as new target for MS. J Clin Invest. 2003 Jun;111(11):1703-13. doi:10.1172/JCI16921. Erratum in: J Clin Invest. 2003 Jul;112(2):298. PMID:12782673.