Henry A. Lester, Ph.D., is Bren Professor at the California Institute of Technology, where he has spent his entire teaching career. He has written more than 300 scientific papers and holds seven patents on drugs and the brain, including topics such as nicotine addiction and Parkinson's disease. He served as President of the Biophysical Society and as a member of the Advisory Council of the U. S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). He has conducted research sponsored by the California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the McKnight Endowment for Neuroscience, NIMH, and the National Institutes of Drug Abuse, Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Aging, Heart and Lung, and General Medical Science. He received the Fuller Award in Neuropharmacology from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the Cole Award in Membranes from the Biophysical Society, and two NINDS Jacob K. Javits Awards.
Publications
- Nichols, Aaron L.;Marotta, Christopher B. et al. (2024) Hydrogel encapsulation of a designed fluorescent protein biosensor for continuous measurements of sub-100 nanomolar nicotine
- Haloi, Nandan;Huang, Shan et al. (2024) Interactive computational and experimental approaches improve the sensitivity of periplasmic binding protein-based nicotine biosensors for measurements in biofluidsProtein Engineering, Design and Selection
- Blumenfeld, Zack;Bera, Kallol et al. (2023) Antidepressants enter cells, organelles, and membranesNeuropsychopharmacology
- Walker, Noah B.;Yan, Yijin et al. (2023) β2 nAChR Activation on VTA DA Neurons Is Sufficient for Nicotine Reinforcement in RatseNeuro
- Nichols, Aaron L.;Blumenfeld, Zack et al. (2023) Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors within Cells: Temporal Resolution in Cytoplasm, Endoplasmic Reticulum, and MembraneJournal of Neuroscience
- Haloi, Nandan;Huang, Shan et al. (2023) Interactive computational and experimental approaches improve the sensitivity of periplasmic binding protein-based nicotine biosensors for measurements in biofluids
- Knox, Hailey J.;Rego Campello, Hugo et al. (2022) Characterization of Binding Site Interactions and Selectivity Principles in the α3β4 Nicotinic Acetylcholine ReceptorJournal of the American Chemical Society
- Harrison, Neil L.;Abbott, Geoffrey W. et al. (2022) How many SARS-CoV-2 "viroporins" are really ion channels?Communications Biology
- Nichols, Aaron L.;Blumenfeld, Zack et al. (2022) Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors Within Cells: Temporal Resolution in Cytoplasm, Endoplasmic Reticulum, and Membrane
- Muthusamy, Anand K.;Kim, Charlene H. et al. (2022) Three Mutations Convert the Selectivity of a Protein Sensor from Nicotinic Agonists to S-Methadone for Use in Cells, Organelles, and BiofluidsJournal of the American Chemical Society