Baruch Minke

Baruch Minke was born in 1940 in Tel Aviv

Baruch Minke was born in Tel Aviv in 1940.

From 1964 to 1967 he studied physiology and biochemistry for a bachelor's degree at the Hebrew University. He went on to a master's degree and a doctorate, supervised by Peter Hillman and submitted in 1973. From 1973 to 1975 he was a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University, studying the genetics and electrophysiology of the visual system.

In 1975 he began teaching in the physiology department of the Hebrew University's medical faculty and Hadassah Medical Center, and he headed the department from 1989 to 1992. He became Professor of Physiology in 1987 and later professor emeritus. He was a visiting lecturer in Switzerland, Germany and the United States and supervised about 30 doctoral students.

Studying vision in fruit flies, he and colleagues found a new type of ion channel, which he named TRP. With Zvi Selinger he identified phospholipase C as a key part of the TRP signaling pathway. The work later extended to the human TRPV1 channel, linked to inflammatory pain and sensing harmful heat.

In 2010 he received the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research with David Julius and Linda Watkins, and the EMET Prize.