Palmer W. Taylor, Ph.D. an expert in the areas of structure, function and gene expression of acetylcholinesterase and of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, was, at the time of this lecture, the Sandra and Monroe Trout Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of California at San Diego.

Dr. Taylor published numerous research papers and received substantial extramural funding for support of his research. He served on several study sections and advisory councils for the National Institutes of Health. From 1995-1996, Dr. Taylor was president of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He also served on the Board of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. In 1998, Dr. Taylor was elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

About the lecture

"Nature's Toxins for Unlocking the Secrets of Molecular Structure and Specificity in Cholinergic Neurotransmission."

"Organisms and animals have evolved to produce a plethora of toxic substances which they use to either be the predator or to avoid being preyed on by another species. Many of these toxins affect some aspect of cholinergic neurotransmission, either to block the breakdown of acetylcholine by acetylcholinesterase or to affect the function of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. In either case, the toxin activity acts to block muscular motor activity and immobilize the foe or food source.

Dr. Taylor's research has focused on using a variety of peptide toxins, which have exquisite specificity for wither the esterase or the nicotinic receptor, to probe the structure and function of these entities. In the case of acetylcholinesterase, templates of structure are available from X-ray crystallography and structure may be resolved at an atomic level of resolution. For the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, structural details are only resolvable at a molecular level; however, sufficient detail is available to delineate residues and domains rApril 24, 2007bly"

Quoted from the 1999 Loyd E. Harris Lecture Announcement Brochure.