Neuroscientist joins faculty of Center for Learning and Memory

Monday, July 17, 2006

AUSTIN, Texas—Dr. Richard Aldrich, a neuroscientist whose research focuses on cellular membrane ion channels, has joined the faculty of the Section of Neurobiology at The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Rick Aldrich, Chair of the Section of Neurobiology

Aldrich, the Karl S. Folkers Chair II in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, is the new chairperson of neurobiology. He also joins the rapidly expanding Center for Learning and Memory, directed by Dr. Daniel Johnston.

Aldrich received his doctorate in neuroscience from Stanford University in 1980, after which he did postdoctoral work at Yale University in physiology. He joined the faculty at Yale in the Section of Molecular Neurobiology before returning to Stanford in 1985 as a faculty member in the Department of Neurobiology and subsequently the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, where he served as department chair from 2001-2004. Aldrich was a member of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1990 until moving to The University of Texas at Austin in 2006.

Aldrich’s research is directed towards understanding the mechanisms of ion channel function and the role of ion channels in electrical signaling and physiology. Ion channels are proteins that regulate the movement of ions—such as sodium, calcium, and potassium—into and out of cells. They are responsible for the conversion of external sensory signals to the electrical language of the nervous system and for the integration of these signals to generate appropriate behavior.