Richard P. Bunge Neuroscience Lecture 2002

Dr. Jeff Lichtman is a recognized leader in the field of synapse formation and elimination. He not only was the first to demonstrate synapse elimination between neurons, he has pioneered many of the highly sophisticated imaging techniques in widespread use today. Jeff holds several of the early U.S. patents for methods of converting conventional microscopes into confocal imaging microscopes. He is best known for his application of these new technologies to studies of the developing neuromuscular junction and the mechanisms whereby several motoneurons compete for the eventual singly innervated site on the muscle fiber. In one of his classic papers, Jeff followed the fate of several single identified neuromuscular synapses in the mouse over a period of more than two years, conclusively showing that the neuromuscular junction is one of the most stable synapses in existence. His creative insight into the functions of the neuromuscular junction has led to several important and novel observations including physical aspects of synaptic competition and elimination, and the rapid dispersion of postsynaptic receptors following high levels of neuronal stimulation. In addition to his many scientific contributions (over 100 papers published in major journals) Jeff co-authored with Dale Purves one of the most widely used texts on developmental neurobiology and has co-authored several monographs on microscopy and imaging techniques.

Dr. Jeff Lichtman received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowdoin College, Maine, in 1973 and continued his studies at Washington University in St. Louis where he received both his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees in 1980. Following a two year research fellowship in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard where he collaborated with Eric Frank on studies of the connections between sensory cells and motoneurons. Jeff returned to Washington University in 1982 where he rapidly rose to the rank of Full Professor in 1990. He was Director of the Washington University Neuroscience Graduate Program from 1992-1997. Jeff has received numerous honors including a Sloan Foundation Award in Neuroscience, a McKnight Neuroscience Development Award and two Jacob Javits Awards, and was appointed a AAAS Fellow in 2000. He is also on the editorial boards of more than a dozen major journals in neuroscience and sits on many national and international advisory boards.

To learn more about Dr. Lichtman's research click here.

Albert Aguayo 
Applebaum Foundation Inc. 
Stephen A. Baccus 
John & Ellen Barrett 
Jose Luis Becerra 
John L. Bixby 
Mary Bartlett Bunge 
Kermit & Coralie C. Carraway 
Nirupa Chaudhari 
Joan Lipinsky Cochran 
Gregory & Daphne W. Conner 
DBR Enterprises 
Susan L. Danker 
W. Dalton Dietrich 
Duke University 
Edward J. Green  
Douglas S. Gorman 
Cher K. Higgins 
Eugene M. Johnson 
Naomi Kleitman 
Robert W. Knighton 
Chien-Ping Ko 
Allan & Deborah Ann Levi 
Charles W. Luetje 
Karl Magleby 
Glen Kay Martin