David Smith Lecture
The David Smith Lectures in Anatomical Neuropharmacology
The Award Lecture was established in 2008, on the 25th anniversary of the MRC’s decision to set up the Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit in the Department of Pharmacology following the successful application by David Smith.
The decision recognised the vision that “explanations of normal and pathological events in the brain come from insights into its circuitry at the cellular and subcellular levels.” By exploring the molecular and temporal relationships in identified neuronal assemblies, the Unit defined chronocircuitry of the brain.
The lectures celebrate David’s leadership, teaching and mentoring of generations of scientists who have been pioneering the exploration of the molecular and spatio-temporal dynamics of neuronal systems world-wide. Subsequently, the subjects were expanded to all spatio-temporal biological interactions in the fields covered by the Department.
David Smith Lecture Series 2008-2023
Genetics of neurodegeneration: progress towards mechanistic treatments |
14 June 2023: Professor Annette Dolphin, Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, UCL |
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 28 May 2019: Professor Hannah Monyer, Department of Clinical Neurobiology, Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University – Inhibition that’s exciting in the brain |
8 May 2018: Professor Andreas Luthi, Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland – |
8 February 2017: Professor Thomas Sudhof (Nobel Laureate 2013), Stanford University, USA |
3 March 2015: Professor Jean-Marc Fritschy, University of Zurich, Switzerland – |
24 April 2014: Professor Zoltan Nusser, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest – |
29 October 2013: Professor Anders Björklund, Wallenberg Neuroscience Center, Lund University, Sweden – Use of stem cells for dopamine cell replacement in Parkinson’s disease. |
21 May 2013: Professor Tomas Hökfelt, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden – |
6 March 2012: Professor Ivan Soltesz, University of California, Irving, USA – |
3 May 2011: Professor Peter Jonas, IAT, Austria – |
21 September 2010: Professor Ann Graybiel, McGovern Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA – |
4 May 2010: Professor Ryuichi Shigemoto, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan – Glutamate receptors, their localization, function and roles in physiological learning processes. |
16 June 2009: Professor Tamas F Freund, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Science, Budapest – Control of cortical inhibition and excitation by endocannabinoids: novel insights into anxiety and epilepsy. |
24 March 2008: Professor György Buzsáki, Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, USA – Self-organised cell assemblies in cerebral cortex support cognitive actions. |
25 November 2008: Professor Antoine Triller, INSERM, Paris, France – |
