Annette Dolphin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Annette Dolphin
FRS FMedSci
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Dolphin in 2015
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Annette Catherine Dolphin
1951 (age 73–74) |
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| Awards | Physiological Society Annual Review Prize Lecture (2015) |
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| 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 work focuses on how our brains and bodies send signals.
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Becoming a Scientist
Annette Dolphin studied at the University of Oxford. In 1973, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in biochemistry. Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes happening in living things. Later, in 1977, she received her PhD from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London. Her PhD research looked at how certain brain chemicals work.
Discoveries About Brain Signals
Professor Dolphin is a leading expert in a field called Neuroscience. She studies special parts of our cells called voltage-gated calcium channels. Think of these channels as tiny gates in our cells. They open and close to let calcium in and out. Calcium is very important for many body functions, especially for how our nerves send messages.
How Calcium Channels Work
Her research has shown how these calcium channels are controlled. She found out how they move around inside cells. She also discovered how other parts of the cell, called G-protein coupled receptors, can change how these channels work. This is important because it helps us understand how our bodies react to different signals.
Important Proteins
Professor Dolphin's work on "auxiliary calcium channel subunits" has been very helpful. These are like helper proteins that make sure the calcium channels work correctly. She has explained how these helper proteins are built and how they are processed by the cell. This knowledge helps scientists understand diseases where these channels don't work right.
Where She Has Worked
Before joining UCL, Professor Dolphin worked at several other famous places. These include the Collège de France, Yale University in the USA, and the National Institute for Medical Research in the UK. She also worked at St George's, University of London and the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine.
Awards and Recognition
Professor Dolphin has received many awards for her important research. These include the British Pharmacological Society Sandoz Prize and the Pfizer Prize in Biology. She has also given many special lectures, like the G. L. Brown Prize Lecture and the Julius Axelrod Distinguished Lecture. In 2015, she gave the Physiological Society Annual Review Prize Lecture.
In 1999, she was chosen as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. This is a big honor for medical scientists. In 2015, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). Being a Fellow of the Royal Society is one of the highest honors for scientists in the UK.
