简介
Francisco J. Barrantes (MD, PhD) University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Head, Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, Institute of Biomed. Research UCA-CONICET; Av. Alicia Moreau de Justo 1600, C1107AFF Buenos Aires, Argentina. rtfjb1@gmail.com, francisco_barrantes@uca.edu.ar
Ph.D. with Prof. E. De Robertis, Faculty of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires. Postdoctoral research with Prof. Gregorio Weber at the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and with Dr. Thomas Jovin at the Department of Molecular Biology, Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany, with short intermissions at the Unité de Neurobiologie, Institut Pasteur, Paris, as an EMBO fellow with Prof. Jean-Pierre Changeux.
He subsequently joined with Bert Sakmann and Erwin Neher as head of a new group stemming from the departments of Molecular Biology, Neurobiology, and Molecular Systems, respectively, at the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen. They were awarded a five-year period as leaders of a scientifically independent group within the institute. During this period, Dr. Barrantes undertook structural work on the acetylcholine receptor, producing the first images of the membrane-bound protein at 2.0 nm resolution using low-dose electron microscopy, in collaboration with Peter Zingsheim and Joachim Frank, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 for his work on single-particle averaging methodology. The identification of the ligand-recognition site on the two alpha-subunits of the receptor at 1.8 nm resolution also stems from this period. In collaboration with Dr. Derek Marsh, they described for the first time the lipid microenvironment of the membrane-bound receptor using ESR techniques, discovering receptor-immobilized lipid.
Upon returning to his home country, he was appointed head of the Institute of Biochemistry, professor at the Department of Biology and Biochemistry of the local university, and subsequently chairholder of the UNESCO Chair of Biophysics and Molecular Neurobiology (1999-2009). Dr. Barrantes has published over 200 papers, 400 short communications, 70 review chapters, and two books on nicotinic receptors and effects of cholesterol on receptors and ion channels.
His membership in scientific academies includes: Natl. Acad. of Medicine, Argentina; Natl. Acad. of Sciences, Argentina; Academy of Sciences, Brazil; World Academy of Sciences (TWAS); European Academy of Sciences; Indian Science Academy; Latin American Academy of Sciences (ACAL). Council member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB), International Society for Neurochemistry, ACAL, for two consecutive periods in all cases. Received prizes and awards from: Daniel Goytía Award, Arg. Assoc. for the Adv. Sciences (1971); Fellow, Wellcome Trust, UK (1970); Bernardo Houssay Award (1987); TWAS (1988); Fellow, Neuroscience Inst., N. York (1986); Fellow, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1990); Alexander von Humbold Stiftung Award, Germany (1999); “Sarojini Damodaran International Trust", India (2002); Konex Award in Molecular and Cell Biology, Argentina (2003); Fulbright Scholar, Harvard Medical School (2004); Prémio União Latina, Lisboa, Portugal (2006); Miguel Lillo Medal (2008); Human Frontier Sci. Progr.; Royal Society, UK; De Robertis Medal, Consacration Medal of the Academy of Sciences of Argentina (2011), the TWAS Medal (2013), the 2015 “Science without Frontiers” award from the Ministry of Education (MEC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT) of Brazil, through their respective funding agencies - CAPES and CNPq., the 2016 Bernardo Houssay Award from the Center for the Study & Development of the Chemical-Pharmaceutical Industry in Argentina (CEDIQUIFA), the Argentine Biochemical Association Prize 2017. In 2018 he was elected Plenary Member of the National Academy of Medicine of Buenos Aires, Argentina (seat formerly occupied by Prof. E. De Robertis).
