Robert Edwards, MD
Robert Edwards is a neuroscientist known for his work on the molecular and cellular basis of neurotransmitter release and its role in Parkinson's disease. His group identified the proteins that transport classical transmitters into neurosecretory vesicles, characterizing their role in quantal release, their mechanism and their regulation as well as their structure. Using the transporters, he helped to establish the phenomenon of neurotransmitter corelease: his lab recently showed that individual neurons can release two transmitters with different frequency dependence, and the two vesicle populations recycle through distinct mechanisms. He has also used the transporters to elucidate the formation of dense core vesicles that mediate regulated release of peptides. Since the original identification of a vesicular monoamine transporter by selection in MPP+, his work has focused on the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease and most recently the function of presynaptic protein -synuclein, which has a central, causative role in the disorder. He also identified the first opioid receptor (delta-) and the transporters involved in glutamate recycling. The work in his lab has implications for behavior and neural degeneration, in particular Parkinson's disease.
Robert Edwards was raised in New York City, attended Yale College and Johns Hopkins Medical School. He trained in clinical neurology, studied as a postdoctoral fellow with William J. Rutter at UCSF and joined the faculty at UCLA in 1990 before returning to UCSF in 1995. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.