Huxley 90th birthday symposium

UCL Physiology is hosting a one-day international symposium in honour of Nobel Laureate and former UCL member of staff Sir Andrew Huxley on 14 November 2007, the occasion of his 90th birthday.

Sir Andrew was UCL's Jodrell Professor of Physiology (1960-1969) and Royal Society Research Professor in Physiology (1969-1983). He won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work with Alan Lloyd Hodgkin on the basis of nerve action potentials, the electrical impulses that enable the activity of an organism to be coordinated by a central nervous system.

UCL's Andrew Huxley Building was formally opened on 4 March 2005 by Lord Sainsbury, Minister for Science & Innovation at the time. The building, home to UCL's  Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience Laboratories, was named in honour of Sir Andrew's contribution to UCL and physiology.

The meeting highlights developments in research fields that have interested Sir Andrew through his career and in which he has made seminal contributions - neuroscience, muscle and motility, hearing and microscopy.

Guest speakers include Professor Michael Häusser (UCL Physiology) on 'New perspectives on action potential signalling in axons and dendrite', Professor John Wood (UCL Biology) on 'Sodium channels and human disease', Professor Robert Fettiplace (University of Wisconsin, Madison) on 'The transduction channels of auditory hair cells', Dr Anne Houdusse (Institut Curie, France) on 'The cross-bridge cycle viewed at atomic resolution', Professor Malcolm Irving (King's College, London) on 'In situ structural studies of the mysosin motor mechanism in muscle', Professor Vincenzo Lombardi (Università degli Studi di Firenze) on 'The molecular motor of muscle studied in situ using Andrew Huxley mechanics', and Dr Justin Molloy (National Institute for Medical Research) on 'Observation and manipulation of single molecules in vitro and in living cells'.

The symposium will be held from 10.30am to 5.30 pm at the A V Hill Lecture Theatre, Medical Sciences Building, Gower Street.

Registration must be received by 31 October 2007. Registration fee is £20, students £10, which includes lunch and a reception.

To find out more, use the link at the top of this article.

Image: Sir Andrew at the formal opening of the Andrew Huxley Building