Annette Dolphin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Annette Dolphin FRS FMedSci
Dolphin in 2015
Born	Annette Catherine Dolphin 1951 (age 73–74) Maidenhead
Alma mater	University of Oxford (BA) King's College London (PhD)
Awards	Physiological Society Annual Review Prize Lecture (2015)
Scientific career
Fields	Neuroscience Calcium channels Pharmacology
Institutions	University College London Collège de France Yale University National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) St George's Hospital Medical School Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine
Thesis	Behavioural and Biochemical Consequences of Cerebral Noradrenaline Receptor Stimulation (1977)

Annette Catherine Dolphin, born in 1951, is a British scientist. She is a professor of pharmacology at University College London (UCL). Pharmacology is the study of how medicines affect the body.

Her Early Studies

Annette Dolphin studied at the University of Oxford. She earned a degree in biochemistry in 1973. Biochemistry is the study of chemical processes in living things.

She then went to King's College London. In 1977, she received her PhD. Her research was about how certain brain chemicals, called noradrenaline receptors, work.

What She Researches

Professor Dolphin is a top expert in the field of neuroscience. She studies special tiny doors in our brain cells called voltage-gated calcium channels. Think of these channels like gates that open and close to let calcium into cells. Calcium is important for many cell functions, especially in the brain.

Her work focuses on:

• How these calcium channels move around inside cells.
• How they work and what makes them open or close.
• How other signals in the body, like G-protein coupled receptors, can change how these channels work.

She has also done important work on how other small parts of the cell help control these calcium channels. Her discoveries have helped scientists understand how these channels are built and how they function.

Where She Has Worked

Before joining UCL, Professor Dolphin worked at several other famous places. These include:

• The Collège de France in Paris.
• Yale University in the United States.
• The National Institute for Medical Research.
• St George's, University of London.
• The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine.

Awards and Recognitions

Professor Dolphin has received many awards for her important research. Some of these include:

• The British Pharmacological Society Sandoz Prize.
• The Pfizer Prize in Biology.

She has also been invited to give special lectures, such as:

• The G. L. Brown Prize Lecture.
• The Julius Axelrod Distinguished Lecture in Neuroscience.
• The Mary Pickford Lecture.
• The Physiological Society Annual Review Prize Lecture in 2015.

In 1999, she became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. This is a big honor for medical scientists. In 2015, she was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is one of the highest honors for scientists in the UK.