Clay Armstrong

Clay Margarave Armstrong (born 1934)^[1] is an American physiologist and a former student of Dr. Andrew Fielding Huxley. He is currently a professor of Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania.^[2]

He was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 1996. He won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (shared with Bertil Hille and Roderick MacKinnon) in 1999. ^[3] Armstrong was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999.^[1] He won the 2001 Gairdner International Award.^[4]

He is married to Clara Franzini-Armstrong.

Ideas and influence

Much of our present knowledge concerning ion channel structure and function can be traced to Dr. Clay Armstrong. He provided the first general description of the K+ ion channel pore, including the fundamental ideas of a selectivity filter, a wider inner vestibule and a gate on the inside. A consistent feature of Armstrong's contributions is the absolutely quantitative nature of the work and the resulting fidelity of his clear and concise descriptions. His work has been so profound that it has had enormous influence on the work of others, leading to our present understanding of channel structure and function.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf. Retrieved 25 April 2011. 
2. ^ Clay Armstrong's page at University Pennsylvania
3. ^ Lasker Award
4. ^ http://www.gairdner.org/awardrecipients/awardees2/20071998/2001awarde/clayarmstr

Persondata
Name	Armstrong, Clay
Alternative names
Short description	American physiologist
Date of birth	1934
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death