Ray Dingledine, PhD
Administrative Accomplishments
I’ve had the privilege of serving in leadership roles in academia, nonprofits including SfN, and small companies advancing new ideas into practice. In each setting I’ve sought to foster collaboration, maintain a constructive outlook, and guide teams toward workable solutions to difficult challenges. As Chair of Pharmacology at Emory University for 25 years, I redirected our department’s research focus to molecular pharmacology, guided it from 45th to 8th in NIH rankings, and founded its current graduate program. In my decade as Executive Associate Dean of Research at Emory, I created and implemented strategic plans that strengthened team science, managed extensive research infrastructure, and initiated award programs recognizing faculty innovation and excellence. My involvement with SfN includes 15 years chairing the Investment Committee, where we built a diversified, socially responsible portfolio that supports future growth. These experiences collectively prepare me to lead SfN as President. See the introduction of my CV for details.
Current Position(s) at Your Current Institution
- Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pharmacology, Emory University School of Medicine
Degree, Institute, Year Earned
| Degree | Institute | Year Earned |
| PhD | Stanford University | 1975 |
| BS | Michigan State University | 1971 |
Research Areas
- Glutamate receptor biology
- Epilepsy
- Neuroinflammation
Memberships & Service
| Organization | Position Held | Year(s) |
| National Academy of Inventors | Fellow | 2023–present |
| Norwegian Academy of Science & Letters | Member | 2018–present |
| SfN – Strategic Investments Acquisition Working Group | Member | 2017–2021 |
| American Epilepsy Society (AES) – Finance Committee | Member | 2017–2020 |
| AES – Translational Science Committee | Member | 2013–2017 |
| SfN – Finance Committee | Ex Officio | 2011–present |
| SfN – Finance Committee | Chairperson | 2002–2003 |
| SfN – Finance Committee | Member | 1999–2002 |
| National Academy of Medicine | Member | 2010–present |
| SfN – Investment Committee | Incoming Chair, Chairperson | 2010–present |
| SfN – Investment Committee | Member | 2007–2010 |
| SfN – Public Education & Communication Committee | Member | 2008–2011 |
| SfN – Audit Committee | Member | 2006–2008 |
| SfN – Council | Treasurer-Elect, Treasurer, Past Treasurer | 2001–2004 |
| SfN – Council | Councilor | 1997–1998 |
| SfN – Public Information Committee | Member | 1999–2002 |
| SfN – Publications Committee | Member | 1997–2000 |
| AES – Research Awards Committee | Member | 1996–1998 |
| SfN – Program Committee | Member | 1993–1996 |
| SfN – North Carolina Chapter | President | 1989–1990 |
| ASPET – Epilepsy Award Committee | Chair | 2000–2002 |
| ASPET – Epilepsy Award Committee | Member | 1986–2002 |
| Society for Neuroscience (SfN) | Member | 1978–present |
Service Positions
Editorial Boards:
| Publication | Position Held | Year(s) |
| Epilepsy Currents | Editorial Board | 2023–2025 |
| ASPET – Molecular Pharmacology | Editor in Chief | 1995–2000 |
| Neuropharmacology | Executive Editorial Board | 1992–2010 |
| Epilepsy Research | Editorial Board | 1992–2006 |
| SfN – JNeurosci Editorial Board | Associate Editor | 1990–1997 |
Other Service Positions:
| Organization | Position Held | Year(s) |
| Professional Advisory Board, Epilepsy Foundation of Georgia | Member | 2016–2024 |
| Emory Tibet Science Initiative | Neuroscience teaching faculty at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, India | 2016–2019 |
| University of Addis Ababa Research Training Advisory Committee | Member | 2015–2022 |
| Internat. League Against Epilepsy Research Priorities Task Force | Member | 2014–2018 |
| Epilepsy Benchmarks Stewards, American Epilepsy Society & NINDS | Vice Chair, Chair | 2013–2018 |
| NIH CounterAct Program – Steering Committee | Member | 2011–2017 |
| MLSCN National Screening Center Network | Chair | 2007–2008 |
| NINDS Scientific Council | Member | 2003–2007 |
| NINDS Scientific Council – Basic Research Infrastructure Committee | Chair | 2003–2007 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation Award Selection Committee | Chair | 1996 |
| Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation Award Selection Committee | Member | 1989–1997 |
Science Biography
I’ve had the good fortune to be trained under brilliant scientists, and to mentor many outstanding students, postdocs and junior faculty. My PhD training was under Avram Goldstein, and in part resulted in the discovery of dynorphin, an opioid peptide. My first postdoc was in Cambridge, UK under John Kelly and Leslie Iversen, where we used in vivo electrophysiology to study cholinergic control of sensory processing through the thalamus. During a second postdoc with Per Andersen in Oslo, I became enamored with the opportunities to unravel neural circuit dynamics in the hippocampus and their alterations in the epilepsies. Subsequently as a faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill, I utilized the then-novel hippocampal slice preparation to explore the synaptic regulation of synchronized burst firing in CA1 and CA3 hippocampal pyramidal neurons. During this period in the early 1980s it became clear to me that uncovering the nuances of excitatory synaptic transmission would require better understanding of the properties of glutamate receptors themselves. To this end we adapted Miledi’s newly-introduced Xenopus oocyte expression system to study the pharmacologic properties of glutamate receptors expressed after injection of mRNA. This proved to be a fruitful decision that allowed quantitative studies of glutamate receptor antagonists and agonists. For example, we demonstrated that glycine is required for NMDA receptor activation rather than acting as an allosteric potentiator of glutamate as had been commonly thought at the time. We coined the term “coagonist" to describe this role of glycine in activation of NMDA receptors.
In 1991 the glutamate receptor world was buzzing with the molecular cloning of the first AMPA receptor subunit, GluA1, in Steve Heinemann’s lab. I arrived at the Heinemann lab that year for my only sabbatical to identify the amino acid sequence(s) that conferred high Ca2+ permeability on GluA2-lacking AMPA receptors. By using domain swapping and site-directed mutagenesis, we found that a single amino acid in the 2nd membrane domain fully controlled Ca2+ permeability. This “Q/R/N site” was later demonstrated to control Ca2+ permeability in all ionotropic glutamate receptors. In my lab at Emory University, we went on to demonstrate that LTD in hippocampal interneurons was independent of NMDA receptor activation, but instead relied on Ca2+ entry through GluA2-lacking AMPA receptors. Around this time we opened the field of transcriptional regulation of GluA2 expression, finding strong evidence for its control by the repressor REST, and we discovered (contemporaneous with Avtar Roopra) the first mechanism by which REST represses transcription. We demonstrated that this mechanism - recruitment of HDAC to the GluA2 promoter via Sin3A - is responsible for seizure-induced downregulation of GluA2.
My recent research is focused on the roles of neuroinflammation in the epilepsies, specifically that produced by rapid induction of cyclooxygenase-2 after seizures. We developed novel, potent, selective, brain-permeant small-molecule competitive antagonists of the EP2 prostaglandin receptor and tested them in numerous animal models. Our findings point to a profound role of EP2 in seizure-induced neuropathologies and neuroinflammation. Conditional cell-specific ablations of EP2 support a strong role for activation of EP2 on monocytes and/or microglia in these effects.
The full CV for this candidate can be found within the ballot.
