Barbara E. Ehrlich

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Barbara E. Ehrlich
Born1952 (age 71–72)
New London, Connecticut
Alma materBrown University (ScB); University of California Los Angeles (PhD)
Known forLithium transport and bipolar disorder
Prevention of chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy
Spouses
Lawrence B. Cohen
(m. 1984⁠–⁠2004)
Stuart M. Johnson
(m. 2019)
Children1
AwardsMargaret Oakley Dayhoff Award in Biophysics(1997)
K.S. Cole Award for Excellence in Membrane Biophysics (2005)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysiology, biophysics, pharmacology
Doctoral advisorJared Diamond

Barbara E. Ehrlich is Professor of Pharmacology and of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale University working on the biophysics of membrane ion channels. Recent research investigates the function of polycystin-2, the inositol trisphosphate receptor, and the ryanodine receptor.[1][2][3]

Early life and education[edit]

Ehrlich was born in New London, CT in 1952 and grew up in Newport, RI. Ehrlich attended Brown University, where she received a Bachelor of Science: ScB in Applied Mathematics and Biology.[4] She then received her PhD from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1979 on the topic of membrane transport parameters in bipolar disorder.[5]

Career[edit]

At Brown University, Ehrlich worked with Helen Cserr, Professor of Physiology. Her doctoral advisor was Jared Diamond and she studied lithium transport in human red blood cells as a way to understand lithium treatment in bipolar disorder. Ehrlich completed her post doctoral research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole.[4] She then went on to work as a professor at the University of Connecticut for 11 years. At the University of Connecticut, she coined the term "Molecular Hermeneutics." Hermeneutics is a philosophical discipline derived from Hermes, who was the Messenger of the Gods and had to both deliver and interpret messages. Hermeneutics became the exegesis of the Bible, and eventually it evolved to interpretation, in particular of Truth and Beauty.[6][7] She continues to be the Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Hermeneutics at Yale University, where she presently works.

Ehrlich began working at Yale University in 1997 as a professor of pharmacology and of cellular and molecular physiology.[4] At Yale, Ehrlich has mainly focused on intracellular calcium regulation.[4] Her laboratory uses calcium imaging combined with electrophysiological, biochemical, and molecular techniques to study the classes of calcium release channels known to exist inside virtually all cells: the inositol trisphosphate receptor-gated channel, the ryanodine receptor, and polycystin 2. Ehrlich and her team work to understand the loss of calcium regulation observed in disease states as seen in cells from patients with polycystic kidney disease or leading to drug-induced peripheral neuropathy. The Ehrlich team hypothesizes that these abnormalities in function are consequences, at least in part, of altered intracellular calcium homeostasis and that these studies will lead to suitable treatment regimens.[4]

From 2004 to 2011, Ehrlich was on the board of scientific counselors at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.[4]

Awards[edit]

[4]

Elected offices[edit]

[8]

Personal life[edit]

Ehrlich was married to Lawrence B. Cohen, Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale University. Ehrlich has one daughter, and is presently married to Stuart M. Johnson. Ehrlich splits her time between New York City and New Haven, Connecticut.[citation needed]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Kuo, IY; Ehrlich, BE (February 2015). "Muscling in on the ryanodine receptor". Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 22 (2): 106–7. doi:10.1038/nsmb.2960. PMID 25650905.
  2. ^ Yang, Y; Keeler, C; Kuo, IY; Lolis, EJ; Ehrlich, BE; Hodsdon, ME (17 April 2015). "Oligomerization of the polycystin-2 C-terminal tail and effects on its Ca2+-binding properties". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 290 (16): 10544–54. doi:10.1074/jbc.m115.641803. PMC 4400361. PMID 25716316.
  3. ^ Bezprozvanny, I.; Watras, J.; Ehrlich, B. E. (1991-06-27). "Bell-shaped calcium-response curves of Ins(1,4,5)P3- and calcium-gated channels from endoplasmic reticulum of cerebellum". Nature. 351 (6329): 751–754. Bibcode:1991Natur.351..751B. doi:10.1038/351751a0. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 1648178. S2CID 4340204.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Barbara Ehrlich, PhD > Biological & Biomedical Sciences | Yale University". medicine.yale.edu. Retrieved 2019-07-19.
  5. ^ Ehrlich, BE; Diamond, JM; Gosenfeld, JL; Kaufman-Diamond, S (1978). "Lithium, membranes, and manic-depressive illness". Psychopharmacology Bulletin. 14 (3): 21.
  6. ^ Mantzavinos, C. (2016), "Hermeneutics", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2019-07-19
  7. ^ Press, Rockefeller University (2015-01-26). "Molecular hermeneutics and unusual sorbets: Barbara Ehrlich". Sounds Physiological. Retrieved 2019-07-19.
  8. ^ "Home > Ehrlich Laboratory | Pharmacology | Yale School of Medicine". medicine.yale.edu. Retrieved 2019-07-19.

External links[edit]