Peter Somogyi

Biography

 Professor Peter Somogyi, PhD., DSc, is director of the Medical Research Council, Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit and professor of neurobiology at the Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, UK. He graduated in biology and received his PhD in cell biology at the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. His research training included neurocytology with István Benedeczky, neuroanatomy with János Szentágothai at Semmelweis Medical University, Budapest, biochemistry with A. David Smith and Ian Chubb at the University of Oxford, and immunocytochemistry with Claudio Cuello at Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the British Academy of Medical Sciences, the Hungarian, the German and the European Academies, and received The Brain Prize  in 2011.

Research Interest

 Somogyi is recognised for his fundamental work on the identification of cell types in the cerebral cortex and for the localization of signalling molecules in identified synapses of microcircuits in the brain. He pioneered the high-resolutions synaptic dissection of connections in the cerebral cortex defining synaptic links and their temporal dynamics. His vision that explanations of normal and pathological events in the brain can only come from the rigorous spatio-temporal definition of the neuronal circuits that underlie these events has led to the discoveries of novel cell types, rules of neuronal connections, their molecular constituents and temporal dynamics. In general, his work has demonstrated how co-operative interactions in time and space between distinct identified neurons and receptors in the plasma membrane underlie the processing power of the cortex. He has educated and mentored many students and postdoctoral scientists, who are now professors and leaders throughout the world. Further information: www.mrc.ox.ac.uk/groups/somogyi-group