Dr. Roderick MacKinnon

Dr. Roderick MacKinnon, a 2003 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, is currently a John D. Rockefeller Jr. professor in the laboratory of molecular neurobiology and biophysics at Rockefeller University and investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

He received his undergraduate degree from Brandeis University, a medical degree from Tufts University, and training in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He then began his scientific career studying the biophysics of potassium channels at Brandeis University from 1986-1989. He joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School as assistant professor of physiology (1989), associate professor of neurobiology (1992) and professor of neurobiology (1995). During this period he and his laboratory characterized potassium channels—their subunit stoichiometry, pore-lining amino acids, and components of their gates—through biochemical and functional analysis. He then moved to Rockefeller University in 1996 where his laboratory has provided the first atomic descriptions of ion selective membrane channels.

MacKinnon's research seeks to understand the molecular mechanisms of a class of integral membrane proteins known as ion channels. By catalyzing the rapid and selective flow of inorganic ions, such as potassium and chloride, across cell membranes, these proteins generate electrical signals in cells. Among their many biological functions, ion channels control the pace of the heart, regulate hormone secretion and generate the electrical impulses underlying information transfer in the nervous system. Central questions in the field of mechanistic ion channel studies include: How do their pores discriminate between very similar ions such as sodium and potassium, and how does neurotransmitter binding or a change in a cell's membrane voltage control the gating (opening and closing) process? These questions are being addressed through functional and structural studies of potassium and other ion channels.

MacKinnon is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the recipient of numerous scientific awards including the 1999 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the 2000 Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Research, the 2001 Gairdner Foundation International Award, the 2003 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, and the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Public Lecture

Monday, Oct. 1, 2007, 4 p.m.
McNamara Alumni Center, Memorial Hall