Rodolfo Llinás

Rodolfo Llinás (born in Bogotá, Cundinamarca in 1934) is the Thomas and Suzanne Murphy Professor of Neuroscience and Chairman of the department of Physiology & Neuroscience at the NYU School of Medicine. He went to the Gimnasio Moderno school and received his MD from the Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá in 1959 and his PhD in 1965 from the Australian National University working under Sir John Eccles. Professor Llinás has published over 400 scientific articles.

Work
He is especially known for his work on the physiology of the cerebellum, the thalamus as well as his pioneering work on the inferior olive, on the squid giant synapse and on human magnetoencephalography (MEG).

Memberships
Llinas is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences (1986) the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1996) American Philosophical Society (1996) the Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (Madrid) (1996) and the French Academy of Science (2002). Dr. Llinás has received Doctor Honoris Causa titles from the following universities:
 * Universidad de Salamanca (Spain) (1985)
 * Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain) (1993)
 * National University of Colombia (1994)
 * Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain (1997)
 * Universidad de los Andes,(1998), Colombia
 * Toyama University, Toyama, Japan (2005)
 * University of Pavia, Italy (2006)

He was also the chairman of NASA/Neurolab Science Working Group.

Contributions
Rodolfo Llinás is considered one of the fathers of neuroscience. His contributions include:


 * Discovery of dendritic inhibition in central neurons.


 * The functioning of the cerebellar cortex neuronal circuits.


 * Defining cerebellar function from an evolutionary perspective.


 * First determination of presynaptic calcium current, under voltage clamp, at the squid giant synapse.
 * The discovery of Purkinje's Cells are capable  of generating calcium-dependent spikes.


 * The discovery of the P-Type Channels in the Purkinje cells.


 * Direct demonstration of calcium concentration microdomains at the presynaptic active zone.


 * Utilization of magnetoencephalography in clinical research.


 * Discovery of subthreshold oscillations in the inferior olive, thalamus and enthorhynal cortex.


 * The discovery of Thalamocortical dysrhythmias.


 * Artificial olivo-cerebellar motor control system as part of the project BAUV (Undersea Vehicle) of the US Navy developed by Dr. Promode Bandyopadhyay.

Selected bibliography

 * Llinas, R. I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 2002). ISBN 0262621630


 * Llinas, Rodolfo, R. The Squid Giant Synapse : A Model for Chemical Transmission Oxford University Press, USA (December 15, 1999) ISBN 0195116526


 * Rodolfo R. Llinás and Patricia Smith Churchland, Mind-Brain Continuum: Sensory Processes The MIT Press (September 9, 1996) ISBN 0262121980


 * Taketoshi Ono, Gen Matsumoto, Rodolfo R. Llinas, Alain Berthoz, Ralph Norgren, Hisao Nishijo, Ryoi Tamura (editors) Cognition and Emotion in the Brain: Selected Topics of the International Symmposium on Limbic and Association Cortical Systems, Toyama, Japan 7-12 October 2002 (International Congress Series) Jai Pr; Bk&CD-Rom edition (December 2003) ISBN 0444512446

Newspaper articles
New York Times announcement of election to the [National Academy of Sciences]
 * New Way Of Looking At Diseases Of the Brain The New York Times October 26, 1999
 * Listening to the Conversation of Neurons The New York Times May 27, 1997