# Florian Läng
**Florian Lang** According to his Leopoldina member profile, he is known for research on the properties and regulation of ion channels and transporters, on the role of cell volume and cell-volume-regulatory transport in metabolism, proliferation, and cell death, and on the serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase SGK1.[1](https://www.leopoldina.org/en/members/member-list/detail/florian-lang) According to the DFG's GEPRIS database, his group at the Institute of Physiology, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, helped define eryptosis, the regulated death of mature erythrocytes.[3](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41419-025-07784-w) He has published more than 700 papers.[1](https://www.leopoldina.org/en/members/member-list/detail/florian-lang)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Field | Physiology: ion channels, transporters, cell volume regulation, SGK1, eryptosis[1](https://www.leopoldina.org/en/members/member-list/detail/florian-lang) |
| Current position | Professor (C4) and chairman, Institute of Physiology, University of Tübingen, since 1992[1](https://www.leopoldina.org/en/members/member-list/detail/florian-lang) • [2](https://pdf4pro.com/file/37d84/2fp_usr_files_1_B5_Lang_x.pdf.pdf) |
| Signature work | "Liver cell death and anemia in Wilson disease involve acid sphingomyelinase and ceramide", Nature Medicine, 2007[4](https://www.nature.com/articles/nm1539) |
| Output | More than 700 papers on ion channels, transporters, and cell volume regulation[1](https://www.leopoldina.org/en/members/member-list/detail/florian-lang) |
## Career
He was Universitätsdozent at [Innsbruck](https://www.edgepedia.org/innsbruck) from 1977 to 1982. Since 1992 he has held the C4 professorship and chairmanship of the Physiologisches Institut der Universität Tübingen.[1](https://www.leopoldina.org/en/members/member-list/detail/florian-lang) • [2](https://pdf4pro.com/file/37d84/2fp_usr_files_1_B5_Lang_x.pdf.pdf)
## Research
Lang's laboratory studies ion channels and transport proteins, expressing human channels in Xenopus oocytes and measuring them by [two-electrode voltage clamp](https://www.edgepedia.org/two-electrode-voltage-clamp) and tracer flux.[5](https://www.xenbase.org/xenbase/community/viewPerson.do?method=display&personId=1962&personName=Lang) Targets have included the cardiac K+ channels Isk and HERG, the lymphocyte K+ channel Kv1.3, the epithelial Na+ channel ENaC, the renal transporters NaPi2 and NaPi3, the [organic cation transporters](https://www.edgepedia.org/organic-cation-transporter) OCT-1 and OCT-2, osmolyte transporters, and amino-acid transporters, with work on their basic transport properties, regulation by intracellular signaling, impairment by toxins, and behavior in genetic transport defects.[5](https://www.xenbase.org/xenbase/community/viewPerson.do?method=display&personId=1962&personName=Lang)
A second line concerns cell volume regulation. The Leopoldina record credits him and his colleagues with discovering the role of cell volume and cell-volume-regulatory transport in the regulation of metabolism, cell proliferation, and apoptosis, and with identifying suicidal host cell death as a defense mechanism against intracellular pathogens.[1](https://www.leopoldina.org/en/members/member-list/detail/florian-lang) DFG-funded projects at the Tübingen institute covered the mechanisms and regulation of erythrocyte apoptosis, ion channels, and suicidal death of [Plasmodium falciparum](https://www.edgepedia.org/plasmodium-falciparum)-infected erythrocytes, and the role of SGK isoforms in apoptosis and in the growth and therapy resistance of solid tumors.[6](https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/institution/25476)
**SGK1.** The serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase 1 is up-regulated by cell stresses including ischemia, radiation, and hyperosmotic shock, and is activated through PI3K-dependent signaling, in which mTORC2 phosphorylates the hydrophobic motif and PDK1 phosphorylates the kinase domain.[7](https://doi.org/10.15698/cst2019.01.170) • [14](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2022.1036844/full) SGK1 up-regulates a wide set of transport proteins, among them Na+/K+-ATPase, NKCC, NCC, Na+/H+ exchangers, SGLT1, ENaC, SCN5A, ORAI1/STIM1, TRPV5, and TRPV6, as well as transcription factors including NF-κB, p53, CREB, AP-1, and FOXO3a.[7](https://doi.org/10.15698/cst2019.01.170) Functionally it supports glucose uptake and glycolysis, angiogenesis, cell survival, migration, and wound healing, and, as a last line of defense against tissue injury, fosters tissue fibrosis and calcification.[7](https://doi.org/10.15698/cst2019.01.170) A DFG project led from Tübingen (2006–2010) analyzed the physiological and pathophysiological significance of SGK1 and SGK3 and their activating kinase PDK1, covering epithelial transport of Na+, K+, Ca2+, phosphate, glucose, and amino acids, blood pressure, peripheral glucose uptake, radiation-induced lung fibrosis, and mineralocorticoid-induced renal fibrosis, using SGK1 and SGK3 knockout mice, and PDK1 hypomorphic mice; coexpression experiments in Xenopus oocytes showed that SGK1 increases the activity of various epithelial and non-epithelial channels and transporters.[8](http://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/27316334?language=en) A 2014 review from the Tübingen department summarized this transport-regulatory role.[9](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24417516/)
**Eryptosis.** Mature erythrocytes lack the apoptotic mitochondrial machinery, and the term eryptosis was coined to distinguish their regulated death from apoptosis.[3](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41419-025-07784-w) Eryptosis depends critically on Ca2+ signaling and is linked with cell shrinkage, membrane blebbing, and phosphatidylserine externalization; shrinkage is mediated by K+ efflux through the Ca2+-activated Gardos channel (KCa3.1), whose inhibitors charybdotoxin and clotrimazole can avert it, while Ca2+ overload activates calpain, degrading the cytoskeleton.[3](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41419-025-07784-w) The Tübingen group's work on erythrocyte apoptosis under Plasmodium falciparum infection and on erythrocyte death in disease contributed to defining this cell death modality.[6](https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/institution/25476) • [2](https://pdf4pro.com/file/37d84/2fp_usr_files_1_B5_Lang_x.pdf.pdf)
## Representative work
The 2007 [Nature Medicine](https://www.edgepedia.org/nature-medicine) paper "Liver cell death and anemia in Wilson disease involve acid sphingomyelinase and ceramide" (volume 13, pages 164–170, published 28 January 2007) showed that Cu2+ triggers hepatocyte apoptosis through activation of acid sphingomyelinase and release of ceramide, and that genetic deficiency or pharmacological inhibition of acid sphingomyelinase prevented Cu2+-induced hepatocyte apoptosis and protected Wilson-disease-prone rats from acute hepatocyte death, liver failure, and early death.[4](https://www.nature.com/articles/nm1539) In patients, plasma acid sphingomyelinase was elevated and erythrocytes showed a constitutive increase of ceramide- and phosphatidylserine-positive cells, whose phosphatidylserine exposure led to rapid clearance from the blood in mice.[4](https://www.nature.com/articles/nm1539)
He also co-edited the Springer textbook *Physiologie des Menschen: mit Pathophysiologie*, published in 2007.[10](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-540-32910-7)
## Patents and roles outside academia
A German patent application on a medicament for the treatment of sepsis, filed with the university's technology transfer in 2007, was abandoned in 2009.[12](https://fit.uni-tuebingen.de/Patent/Details?id=55)
## References
1. Professor Dr Florian Lang, Leopoldina member detail. https://www.leopoldina.org/en/members/member-list/detail/florian-lang
2. Prof. Dr. med. Florian Lang, curriculum vitae (German). https://pdf4pro.com/file/37d84/2fp_usr_files_1_B5_Lang_x.pdf.pdf
3. Current understanding of eryptosis: mechanisms, physiological functions, role in disease, pharmacological applications, and nomenclature recommendations. Cell Death & Disease, 2025. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41419-025-07784-w
4. Liver cell death and anemia in Wilson disease involve acid sphingomyelinase and ceramide. Nature Medicine 13, 164–170 (2007). https://www.nature.com/articles/nm1539
5. Florian Lang, Personal Page, Xenbase community. https://www.xenbase.org/xenbase/community/viewPerson.do?method=display&personId=1962&personName=Lang
6. DFG GEPRIS, Institut für Physiologie, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/institution/25476
7. Serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase 1 and the response to cell stress. Cell Stress, 2019. https://doi.org/10.15698/cst2019.01.170
8. DFG GEPRIS, Kinasen in der Regulation von Transportprozessen der Zellmembran. http://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/27316334?language=en
9. Regulation of transport across cell membranes by the serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase SGK1. Mol Membr Biol 31(1):29–36, 2014. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24417516/
10. Physiologie des Menschen: mit Pathophysiologie. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-540-32910-7
11. Florian Lang, Tuebingen DE, inventor profile. https://www.patents-review.com/inventor/1722090-florian-lang-tuebingen-de.html
12. FIT Tübingen patent record: Arzneimittel zur Behandlung von Sepsis. https://fit.uni-tuebingen.de/Patent/Details?id=55
13. Acute activation of human ENaC by SGK1 requires prior cleavage of the channel's γ-subunit. Pflügers Archiv, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-025-03099-z
14. Full (frontiersin.org). https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2022.1036844/full
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Life scientists › Researchers in physiology*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Sep 30, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*
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