Dr. Stephen Traynelis Receives the Ray Dingledine Award for Research Impact
In a special ceremony in December 2019, Dr. Stephen Traynelis received the inaugural Ray Dingledine Award for Research Impact. This Pharmacology and Chemical Biology award will be given annually to one faculty member in honor of high-impact and groundbreaking research.
Dr. Traynelis has made numerous seminal discoveries about the fundamental properties of glutamate receptors. Recently, he has developed multiple first-in-class series of subtype-selective NMDA receptor ligands that possess therapeutic potential for the treatment of ischemic brain injury, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s Disease, epilepsy and other disorders. Dr. Traynelis’ work led him to co-found NeurOp Inc, a start-up company focused on the development of neuroprotective agents, one of which entered clinical trials in 2018. Additionally, Dr. Traynelis’ studies on the functional consequences of genetic variation in glutamate receptors in healthy individuals and epilepsy patients have provided new insights laying the groundwork for precision medicine approaches in the treatment of epilepsy.
Dr. Dingledine, the namesake of the newly-established award, served as the Chair of the department for 25 years (1992-2017) before stepping down when current Chair Haian Fu accepted the position. For four decades, Dr. Dingledine has been an international thought leader in the fields of neuropharmacology and epilepsy. His early work had major impact in the glutamate receptor field and his recent work has been revealing new insights into the role of the EP2 prostanoid receptor in seizure-induced neuroinflammation. The impact of his research has been recognized by a Javits Award from the NIH, the Basic Research Award from the American Epilepsy Society and election to the National Academy of Medicine and the Norwegian Academy of Science & Letters, amongst many other laurels.
