Richard Winyu Tsien (born 3 March 1945), is a Chinese-born American electrical engineer and neurobiologist. He is the Druckenmiller Professor of Neuroscience, Chair of the Department of Physiology and Neuroscience, and Director of the NYU Neuroscience Institute at New York University Medical Center,[3] and also an emeritus faculty member of Stanford University School of Medicine.[4][5][6][7]

Richard Tsien
Born
Richard Winyu Tsien
錢永佑

(1945-03-03) 3 March 1945 (age 79)
Dading, Guizhou, China
NationalityAmerican
SpouseJulia Shiang
Children3
FatherHsue-Chu Tsien
RelativesRoger Y. Tsien (brother)
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology (SB, SM)
University of Oxford (DPhil)
AwardsMember of the National Academy of Sciences (1997)[1]
Physiological Society Annual Review Prize Lecture (2014)
Scientific career
FieldsElectrical engineering
Neurobiology
InstitutionsNew York University Medical Center
Stanford University
ThesisThe kinetics of conductance changes in heart cells (1970)
Doctoral advisorJean Banister[2]
Websitemed.nyu.edu/faculty/richard-tsien
Richard W. Tsien
Traditional Chinese錢永佑
Simplified Chinese
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinQián Yǒngyòu

Early life and education

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Tsien was born in Dading, Guizhou, China and is a descendant of King of Wuyue Qian Liu (Tsien Liu). Soon after his birth, Tsien's family moved to the United States. Tsien received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1965 and Master of Science degree in 1966, both in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tsien then won a Rhodes Scholarship and went to study in the UK at Wadham College, Oxford, from 1966 to 1969. Tsien obtained a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in biophysics from the University of Oxford in 1970.[2]

Career and research

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From 1968 to 1970, Tsien was a Weir Junior Research Fellow at University College, Oxford. From 1969 to 1970, Tsien was a teaching fellow at Balliol College, Oxford.

In 1970, Tsien went back to the United States, and became an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology at Yale University School of Medicine from 1970 to 1974. From 1974 to 1979, Tsien was an associate professor in the same department, and was promoted to full professor in 1979.

In 1988, Tsien went to Stanford and founded the Stanford University Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, where he also served as the first chairman. From 1991 to 2001, Tsien was the Silvio Conte Director - National Institutes of Mental Health Center for Neuroscience Research. From 1988 to 2011, Tsien was the George D. Smith Professor at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology. From 2000 to 2011, Tsien served as Co-Director for the Stanford Brain Research Center.[8][9]

Tsien did important work on calcium channels, their mechanisms and roles in cell signaling pathways. Tsien's research also helps us understand the long-term plasticity of synapses.[10]

From 1987 to 1988, Tsien served as president of the Society of General Physiologists. In August 2000, Tsien also served the Section Chair of Neurobiology of the United States National Academy of Sciences.

Selected honors & awards

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Personal life

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Tsien's youngest brother Roger Y. Tsien, a biochemist, won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[13]

References

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  1. ^ "Richard Tsien". www.nasonline.org.
  2. ^ a b Tsien, Richard Winyu (1970). The kinetics of conductance changes in heart cells. jisc.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. OCLC 1062088005. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.475592.
  3. ^ "Richard W. Tsien, Internationally Renowned Scientist, to Be Inaugural Director of New Neuroscience Institute - Newswise: News for Journalists". www.newswise.com.
  4. ^ "Richard Tsien". Stanford University School of Medicine. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  5. ^ "Bio". tsienlab.med.nyu.edu. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  6. ^ "Bio". www.stanford.edu. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Neurotree - Richard W. Tsien". neurotree.org.
  8. ^ The CV of Richard W. Tsien, Ph.D.[dead link]
  9. ^ "Tsien, Richard W." BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. Stanford University School of Medicine. Archived from the original on 12 June 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  10. ^ "PNAS Member Editor Details". nrc88.nas.edu.
  11. ^ "Walter B. Cannon Award Lecture". Awards—Other APS Awards—Recipients. American Physiological Society. 1996. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  12. ^ Academia Sinica - Life Sciences: Academician Richard Win-Yu Tsien
  13. ^ Nobelprize.org 2008 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry - Roger Y. Tsien