It's with great sadness and a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our long time friend and colleague, Hans Reiner Polder. Reiner founded npi electronic instruments in Germany in 1989. Reiner and npi are long time partners (30 years +) with ALA. He was highly regarded in the field as a brilliant engineer and colleague to so many labs around the world.
Reiner was instrumental in designing many cutting edge devices that are used today in modern neuroscience and electrophysiology research. During his thesis in the early 80’s he developed a new compensating method for electronic intracellular measurements, where he combined control theory approaches to increase the measuring range. He applied this technique to existing intracellular measurement procedures and developed new devices (one and two microelectrode voltage clamp amplifiers, whole cell patch clamp amplifiers and iontophoresis systems) and showed how these measurements can be greatly improved. Reiner collaborated on many research papers. Several are listed below.
Reiner is survived by his wife Hannelore and two sons, Bernd and Thomas. His legacy at npi will continue with Bernd as CEO and Hannelore as CFO. Bernd has a master’s degree in electronic engineering and many years experience in optical engineering. Npi will continue to produce and develop products for neuroscience and electrophysiology with the same quality as always.
A few select papers that Reiner Polder has contributed greatly on.
Polder, H. R., Swandulla, D., Konnerth, A., & Lux, H. D. (1984). An Improved High Current Single-Electrode Voltage/Current Clamp System. Pflügers Arch. 402, R35. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0270(01)00385-5
Misgeld, U., Müller, W. & Polder, H.R. (1989). Potentiation and Suppression by Eserine of Muscarinic Synaptic Transmission in the Guinea-Pig Hippocampal Slice. J. Physiol, 409, 191-206. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1989.sp017492
Richter, D. W., Pierrefiche, O., Lalley, P. M., & Polder, H. R. (1996). Voltage-clamp analysis of neurons within deep layers of the brain. J.Neurosci.Meth. 67, 121-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-0270(96)00042-8
Draguhn, A., Pfeiffer, M., Heinemann, U., & Polder, H. R. (1997). A simple hardware model for the direct observation of voltage-clamp performance under realistic conditions, J.Neurosci.Meth. 78,105-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-0270(96)00042-8
Müller, A., Lauven, M., Berkels, R., Dhein, S., Polder, H. R., & Klaus, W. (1999) Switched single electrode amplifiers allow precise measurement of gap junction conductance. Am.J.Physiol. (Cell) 276, C980-988. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpcell.1999.276.4.C980
Schoepfer, R., Buchholz, G., Planck, J. & Polder, H. R. (1999). CellWorks: A Control Software for the Entire Experimental Setup, in: Virtual Instruments in Practice. ed. Jamal, R., pp. 321-328, Hüthig, München. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpcell.1999.276.4.C980
Polder, H. R., & Swandulla, D. (2001). The use of control theory for the design of voltage clamp systems: A Simple and standardized procedure for evaluating system parameters. J.Neurosci.Meth., 109, 97-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0270(01)00385-5
Sutor, B., Grimm, Ch., & Polder, H. R. (2003). Voltage-Clamp controlled Current-Clamp Recordings From Neurons: An Electrophysiological Technique Enabling the Detection of Fast Potentials Changes at Preset Holding Potentials. Pflügers Arch., 446, 133-141 .https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00424-003-1008-0
Polder H.R., Weskamp M., Linz K., Meyer R. (2005) Voltage-Clamp and Patch-Clamp Techniques. In: Dhein S., Mohr F.W., Delmar M. (eds) Practical Methods in Cardiovascular Research. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-26574-0_16
Daniel, J., Polder, H.R., Lessmann, V. & Brigadski, T. (2013). Single-cell Juxtacellular Transfection and Recording Technique. Pflügers Arch., 465, 1637-1649. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-013-1304-2
Riedemann, T., Polder, H.R. & Sutor, B. (2016) Determination and Compensation of Series Resistances During Whole-Cell Patch-Clamp Recordings Using an Active Bridge Circuit and the Phase-Sensitive Technique. Pflügers Arch., 468, 1725-1740. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-016-1868-8
Chaitanya, J., Gobbo, D., Zhao, N., Planck, J., Polder, H.R. & Kirchhoff F. (2019) Universal amplifier with automatic compensation of series resistance and capacitance in whole cell recordings using an active-bridge circuit and phase-sensitive technique. Poster presented at DPG Meeting, Ulm