Eric Gouaux
Vollum Institute, Oregon Health and Science University
From Clamshells to Clefts: The Molecular Basis of Synaptic Transmission
Monday, February 17, 8:00 PM
Los Angeles Convention Center
Being named the 2025 Biophysical Society Lecturer is the highest annual award bestowed by the Biophysical Society. In addition to presenting the Annual Biophysical Society Lecture, the recipient provides a molecule or figure that depicts his/her research. That figure is used in the background design for that year’s Annual Meeting print and web announcements.
Eric Gouaux completed his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry at Harvard University in 1984 and 1989, respectively. He remained at Harvard for a year as a postdoctoral fellow and then continued his postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1993, he was appointed assistant professor at the University of Chicago Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
In 1996, Gouaux joined the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Columbia University as an assistant professor. In 2000, he was appointed Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and associate professor with Columbia, reaching full professor the following year. Gouaux came to Oregon Health & Science University in 2005 as a Senior Scientist at the Vollum Institute and continuing his position with Howard Hughes. He joined the graduate faculty in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2006. In 2015, Gouaux was appointed the Jennifer and Bernard Lacroute Endowed Chair in Neuroscience Research. He is a member of both the National Academy of Sciences (2010) and the National Academy of Medicine (2020).
Gouaux is widely recognized as an influential leader in revealing structures and mechanisms of synaptic receptors and transporters, using x-ray crystallography and cryo-elecrtron microscopy. He has been a BPS member since 1996 and is the recipient of the Anatrace Membrane Protein Award.
About the Molecule: Molecular structures of AMPA, NMDA and kainate receptors