Rodolfo Llinás

Rodolfo Llinás
Born	16 December 1934 Bogotá, Colombia
Residence	New York City, New York, United States
Fields	Neuroscience
Institutions	NYU School of Medicine
Alma mater	Universidad Javeriana and Australian National University
Known for	Physiology of the cerebellum, the thalamus, Thalamocortical dysrhythmia as well as for his pioneering work on the inferior olive, on the squid giant synapse and on human magnetoencephalography (MEG)

Rodolfo R. Llinás (Bogota, Colombia 16 December 1934) is a Colombian American neuroscientist. He is currently the Thomas and Suzanne Murphy Professor of Neuroscience and Chairman Emmeritus of the department of Physiology & Neuroscience at the NYU School of Medicine. He attended 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.^[1] Llinás has published over 500 scientific articles.

Early life

Llinás was born in Bogotá, Colombia. He went to the Gimnasio Moderno school in Bogotá and graduated as a medical doctor from the Pontifical Xavierian University.^[1] Llinás is an atheist and describes himself as a logical positivist.^[2]

Work

He has studied the electrophysiology of single neurons in the cerebellum, the thalamus, the cerebral cortex, the entorhinal cortex, the hippocampus, the vestibular system, the inferior olive and the spinal cord. He has studied synaptic transmitter release in the squid giant synapse. He has studied human brain function using magnetoencephalography (MEG) on the basis of which he introduced the concept of Thalamocortical dysrhythmia.^[3]

Contributions

Llinás has written that the brain evolved because organisms needed to move around in a coordinated manner.^[4]

Further contributions include:

• Discovery of dendritic inhibition in central neurons (at the mammalian motoneuron).^[5]
• The functional organization of the cerebellar cortex neuronal circuits.^[6]
• Defining cerebellar function from an evolutionary perspective.^[7]
• First description of electrical coupling in the mammalian CNS (mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus).
• First determination of presynaptic calcium current, under voltage clamp, at the squid giant synapse.
• Discovery that vertebrate neurons (cerebellar Purkinje cell) can generate calcium-dependent spikes .
• Discovery of the P-type calcium channel in the Purkinje cells.^[8]
• Discovery of low threshold spikes generated by low voltage activated calcium conductaces (presently known as due to T-type calcium channel) in inferior olive and thalamus neurons.
• Asserting the law of no interchangeability of neurons, which it is known as Llinás' law.^[9]
• Direct demonstration of calcium concentration microdomains at the presynaptic active zone.
• Utilization of magnetoencephalography in clinical research.
• Discovery of subthreshold membrane potential oscillations in the inferior olive, thalamus and entorhinal cortex.
• The discovery of Thalamocortical dysrhythmia.^[3]
• Artificial olivo-cerebellar motor control system as part of the project BAUV (Undersea Vehicle) of the US Navy developed by P. Bandyopadhyay.

Memberships and Honors

Llinás is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (1986), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1996), American Philosophical Society (1996), the Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (Spain) (1996) and the French Academy of Science (2002). Dr. Llinás has received honorary degrees 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, Colombia, (1998)
• Toyama University, Toyama, Japan (2005)
• University of Pavia, Italy (2006)
• Gold Medal of CSIC, Spain (2012)

He was the chairman of NASA/Neurolab Science Working Group and in 2013, the NYU Neuroscience Institute created the Annual Rodolfo Llinás Lecture Series in recognition of his contributions to the field of neuroscience.^[10]

Selected bibliography

• Hubbard, J.I., Llinás, R. and Quastel, D.M.J. Electrophysiological Analysis of Synaptic Transmission. London: Edward Arnold Publishers 1969.
• Llinás, R. Editor. Neurobiology of Cerebellar Evolution and Development. (Chicago: Am. Med. Association, 1969)
• Llinás, R. I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. 2001). ISBN 0-262-62163-0
• Llinás, Rodolfo R. The Squid Giant Synapse : A Model for Chemical Transmission Oxford University Press, USA (December 15, 1999) ISBN 0-19-511652-6
• Llinás, Rodolfo R. and Churchland, Patricia S. Mind-Brain Continuum: Sensory Processes The MIT Press (September 9, 1996) ISBN 0-262-12198-0
• Llinás, Rodolfo R., and Steriade, Mircea. Bursting of thalamic neurons and states of vigilance. Invited Review J. Neurophysiol, 95:3297-3308, 2006. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00166.2006

References

1. Squire, Larry R (2006). The history of neuroscience in autobiography. New York, New York: Elsevier. p. 413. ISBN 978-0-12-370514-3.
2. P. (2016). Rodolfo R. Llinas - Can Science Talk God? Retrieved August 26, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpJ-FpshcsE
3. Llinás R, Ribary U, Jeanmonod D, Kronberg E, Mitra P (1999). "Thalamocortical dysrhythmia: A neurological and neuropsychiatric syndrome characterized by magnetoencephalography". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 96 (26): 15222–7. doi:10.1073/pnas.96.26.15222. PMC 24801. PMID 10611366.
4. Grandin, Temple; Johnson, Catherine (2005). Animals in Translation. New York, New York: Scribner. p. 121. ISBN 0-7432-4769-8.
5. Llinas, R; Terzuolo CA (1965). "Mechanisms of supraspinal actions upon spinal cord activities. Reticular inhibitory mechanisms upon flexor motoneurons". The Journal of Neurophysiology. 28: 413–422.
6. Llinás, Rodolfo; Walton, Kerry D; Lang, Eric J (2004) [1st pub. 1974]. "Chapter 7: Cerebellum". In Shepherd, Gordon M. The synaptic organization of the brain. New York, New York: Oxford University press. pp. 271–310. ISBN 0-19-515955-1.
7. Llinas, RR (1969). "Functional aspects of interneuronal evolution in the cerebellar cortex". UCLA Forum Med Sci. 11: 329-48. PMID 5397400.
8. Llinas, R; Sugimori (1980). "Electrophysiological Properties of in Vitro Purkinje Cell Somata in Mammalian Cerebellar Slices". The Journal of Physiology. 305: 171–195.
9. Llinás, Rodolfo (1990). «Intrinsic Electrical Properties of Mammalian Neurons and CNS Function». Fidia Research Foundation Neuroscience Award Lectures, 1988-1989 (Raven Press) 4: p. 175.
10. http://www.med.nyu.edu/neuroscience/Llinas-lecture

External links

• Rodolfo Llinás official website
• NYU website about Rodolfo Llinás
• "List of Articles on Google Scholar". Google Scholar. 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2016.

Newspaper articles

• Enter the "I" of the Vortex The Science Network interview with Rodolfo Llinás
• In a Host of Ailments, Seeing a Brain Out of Rhythm The New York Times December 8, 2008
• 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
• New York Times announcement of election to the [National Academy of Sciences]