William A. Catterall

William Albert Catterall (born October 12, 1946 in Providence , Rhode Island ) is an American pharmacologist and neurobiologist and professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle , Washington .

Life

Catterall received a BA in Chemistry from Brown University in Providence , Rhode Island in 1968 and a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore , Maryland in 1972. in biochemistry . As a postdoctoral fellow , he worked with Marshall Nirenberg at the National Institutes of Health . After three more years as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health , Chatterall joined the faculty at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle , Washington in 1977 . In 1981 he received a professorship in the department of pharmacology and in 1984 became head of the department.

Act

Catterall is a leader in the clarification of the chemical structure and function of the ion channels in excitable cells . Using a clever combination of biochemical , molecular biological , pharmacological and electrophysiological methods, he was able to describe the molecular basis of the function of (especially voltage-dependent) sodium and calcium channels , which are central to the action potential of nerve cells . More recent work has dealt with diseases caused by impaired function of these channels, including epilepsy and periodic paralysis .

Awards (selection)

• 1981 Passano Young Scientist Award
• 1989 membership in the National Academy of Sciences
• 1994 membership in the Academia Europaea
• 2000 membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2008 Foreign member of the Royal Society
• 2010 member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 2010 Canada Gairdner International Award

Web links

• William Catterall, Ph.D. at the University of Washington (washington.edu); Retrieved May 4, 2011
• Dr. William A. Catterall at wachterstiftung.org; Retrieved May 19, 2011
• Literature by and about William A. Catterall in the WorldCat bibliographic database

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Passano Awards 1945–2009 at passanofoundation.org; Retrieved May 3, 2011
2. ↑ Book of Members 1780–2010 (PDF, 268 MBq) of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org); Retrieved May 4, 2011
3. ^ Foreign Members of the Royal Society (royalsociety.org); Retrieved May 4, 2011
4. ↑ William A. Catterall, PhD at the Gairdner Foundation (gairdner.org); Retrieved December 5, 2012