Ultramicroelectrodes, Electrochemistry, Neurochemistry
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Ph.D. (1974). Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Kansas (1974-1976). Faculty member, Indiana University (1976-1989); National Institutes of Health Research Career Development Award (1979-1983); Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (1981-1983); Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award, NIH (1989); Chemical Instrumentation Award, Analytical Chemistry Division of ACS (1994); David Graham Award, Physical Electrochemistry Division of the Electrochemical Society (1995); Charles N. Reilley Award, Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry (1996); Simon Guggenheim Research Fellowship (1996); Pittsburgh Conference Analytical Chemistry Award (1997); Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry President (1997-1999), Erskine College Academic Hall of Fame (1999); Electrochemistry Award, Analytical Division of ACS (2001); Fellow, AAAS (2002-present); Faraday Medal, Electrochemistry Group, Royal Society of Chemistry (2005), R. N. Adams Award in Bioanalytical Chemistry, Pittsburgh Conference (2006), ACS Analytical Chemistry Award (2008)
Our research interests center around microelectrodes and their use to probe complex chemical and biochemical phenomena. Ultramicroelectrodes are chemical sensors with micron or smaller dimensions. The sensors are unique in that they enable electrochemical measurements in a number of unusual domains including the local microenvironment next to a biological cell, solutions of high resistance such as supercritical fluids, and the transient observation of chemical entities with nanosecond lifetimes. We are using these devices are being used to explore several different neurochemical applications. One application concerns a study of exocytosis at single biological cells. Exocytosis is a primary mechanism whereby cells secrete chemical messengers into the surrounding solution. Ultramicroelectrodes can monitor the temporal profile of exocytosis as it occurs providing unique insight into the rate determining steps.
A second application is the used of microelectrodes as in vivo sensors of neurotransmitters in the intact brain of a living animal. This enables the unique opportunity to examine neurochemical changes with subsecond time resolution, and to correlate these with the animals behavior.