Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge
| Chairman | Bill Harris |
|---|---|
| Location | Cambridge, United Kingdom |
| Affiliations | University of Cambridge |
| Website |
www |
The Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, (PDN) is a part of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Cambridge. Research in PDN focuses on three main areas: Cellular and Systems Physiology, Developmental and Reproductive Biology, and Neuroscience and is currently headed by Bill Harris (neuroscientist), The department was formed on the 1 January 2006, within the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Cambridge from the merger of the Departments of Anatomy and Physiology.[1] The department hosts the Centre for Trophoblast Research and has links with the Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, and the Gurdon Institute.
Senior staff in the department
As of 2014 the department has 25 Professors, ten of whom are Fellows of the Royal Society (FRS).[1]
- Horace Barlow FRS
- Andrea Brand FRS
- Dennis Bray
- Sarah Bray
- Nick Brown
- Graham Burton
- Roger Carpenter
- Bill Colledge
- Andrew Crawford FRS
- Abigail Fowden
- Dino Giussani
- Roger Hardie FRS
- William A Harris FRS
- Christine Holt FRS
- Chris Huang
- Martin Johnson FRS
- Randall S Johnson
- Roger Keynes
- Jenny Morton
- Ole Paulsen
- Angela Roberts
- Wolfram Schultz FRS
- Azim Surani FRS
- Roger C Thomas FRS
- Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz
History
Anatomy was taught within the University since its foundation in about 1231. Initially, the teaching was of a theoretical nature based on readings of the classical texts of Galen, but the subject became established as an academic discipline in the early 16th century. In 1707 the first Professor of Anatomy, George Rolfe, was appointed. The tenth Professor of Anatomy, George Humphry, appointed in 1866, was a founder of the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, and during the early tenure of his office, anatomy and physiology were taught together.
In 1870 Michael Foster was appointed as Praelector in Physiology. In 1878, the University supplied Foster with a purpose-built laboratory on the east side of Downing Street. Though Foster’s contributions to research were not enduring, he was an inspirational teacher and is the academic "great grandfather" to a large fraction of the world's current physiologists. In 1883 Foster became the first Professor of Physiology, Cambridge University.
Notable alumni
The Departments of Anatomy and Physiology (now fused to make PDN) and have been the home of many exceptional contributors to medical and physiological sciences and Nobel Prizes including
- Edgar Adrian (1932)[2]
- Henry Dale (1936)[3]
- Alan Hodgkin (1963)[4]
- Andrew Huxley (1963)[5]
- Roger Y. Tsien (2008)[6]
- Robert G. Edwards (2010)[7]
References
- 1 2 Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge
- ↑ Hodgkin, Alan (1979). "Edgar Douglas Adrian, Baron Adrian of Cambridge. 30 November 1889-4 August 1977". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 25: 1–73. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1979.0002. PMID 11615790.
- ↑ Feldberg, W. S. (1970). "Henry Hallett Dale. 1875-1968". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 16: 77–174. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1970.0006. PMID 11615480.
- ↑ Huxley, S. A. (2000). "Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, O.M., K.B.E. 5 February 1914 -- 20 December 1998: Elected F.R.S. 1948". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 46: 219–210. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1999.0081.
- ↑ Goldman, Y. E.; Franzini-Armstrong, C.; Armstrong, C. M. (2012). "Andrew Fielding Huxley (1917–2012)". Nature. 486 (7404): 474. doi:10.1038/486474a.
- ↑ Tsien, R (2010). "Interview with Roger Tsien: A glowing career. Interviewed by Harp Minhas". Integrative Biology. 2 (1): 10–1. doi:10.1039/b926006b. PMID 20473407.
- ↑ Johnson, M. H. (2011). "Robert Edwards: The path to IVF". Reproductive BioMedicine Online. 23 (2): 245–262. doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2011.04.010. PMC 3171154
. PMID 21680248.
