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Diane Lipscombe is a neuroscientist who primarily focuses on the research of voltage-gated calcium ion channels (CaVs). She received her PhD from the University of London in 1986. Since 1992, Diane has spent her career teaching graduate students and researching at Brown University. Dr. Lipscombe has many notable alumni that have been contributing to research involving voltage-gated calcium ion channels. Some of her current research experiments range from creating new and improved ways of using Bioluminescence, to looking at voltage-gated calcium channels and how they are affected by normal cell behavior, as well as abnormal cell behavior caused by a disease. Throughout her scientific career she has accumulated numerous awards not only from Brown University, but from several research projects as well as the American Heart Association. She is also on several committee boards, has been editors of many magazines and articles, and was recently the president of the Society for Neuroscience from 2018-2019.

Education and Research[ edit]
Dr. Lipscombe attended the University of London in 1982 and graduated with a bachelors of science. She stayed at the University of London to receive a PhD in pharmacology and graduated in 1986. From there she went on to Yale University to study with Richard W Tsien as a postdoctoral associate. From Yale University, she then went on to Stanford University Medical school. Dr. Lipscombe joined the Department of Neuroscience at Brown in 1992. Her studies focus on expression, regulation and function of voltage-gated calcium ion channels. She went on to write upwards of seventy scientific articles ranging from finding more about RNA and DNA binding proteins to articles dealing with chronic pain and psychiatric disorders. She is currently a graduate student professor at Brown University working on projects. Recently, she has been teaching in the Neuroscience Graduate Program in January at the Marine Biology Lab. She trains students in whole cell and single channel patch recording methods, mostly with voltage-gated calcium ion channels.

Overall Research Focus[ edit]
Dr. Lipscombe has spent her career researching voltage-gated calcium ion channels within different parts of the nervous system. Presynaptic and postsynaptic terminals in neurons are found to be very important in calcium channels. These voltage-gated calcium ion channels (CaVs) have a link to certain psychiatric disorders, which is what Dr. Lipscombe is interested in, as well. Dr. Lipscombe has spent time studying alternative splicing variants of different channels, and how variants cause varied biophysical properties and expression in the tissue. An example of a biophysical property of calcium channels include if the channel is fast or slow when the channel uses voltage gated inactivation or activation. CaVs are made up of multiple subunits and have many genes that code for them. These subunits are then subdivided into various channels. An example of one of these channels is known as the CaV 3.3 channel, which Dr. Lipscombe has studied. The variations T797M and R1346H are two missense variations of the gene encoding the CaV 3.3 channel, and is associated with patients with schizophrenia. Her contributions show that R1346H lessens the calcium current.

As stated above, calcium channels are crucial to whether or not there is neurotransmitter release. The alteration of neurons and their functions have been found to lead to neurodevelopmental disorders/diseases. Dr. Lipscombe specifically demonstrated that when Neurexin (NRX-1) and Neuroligin (NLG-1), or presynaptic cell adhesion proteins, adhere to the synaptic cleft^^. This is linked to autism in humans. Dr. Lipscombe also studied the excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter release through coupling methods. Coupling method occurs when two things come together to form a common intermediate that will serve another purpose. This intermediate will either inhibit a function or excite something to carry out a function. This excitatory response found in Dr. Lipscombe’s studies allow calcium channels to open and neurotransmitters to be released again. The deletion of the NRXN1 gene, which is linked to Neurexin, is correlated with neurodevelopmental diseases such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, and autism. Since the calcium channels with the deletion of this gene, neurotransmitters cannot be released.

Current Research[ edit]
Dr. Lipscombe is currently researching cell mechanisms and how they affect CaVs when normal functioning is occurring, as well as when normal function is not occurring. Calcium voltage 2.2 channels or CaV2.2 N-type calcium ion channels are linked to pain. Research in pain is important because chronic pain is a very current therapeutic issue that has poor treatment options that are not very effective and have serious harmful side effects. Voltage gated calcium channels are  made up of various sub-units which make it a multi-complex protein. The N-type channels are a major pain target that take part in excitability which leads to neurotransmitter release in nociceptor. In order to understand the voltage gated calcium channel sub-types, Dr. Lipscombe works on various channel inhibitors that specifically target the inhibitor essential in decreasing pain.

Currently Dr. Lipscombe is working in her lab on a project that looks at the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and its origin and underlying cellular defects. They used a Drosophila Sod1G85R knock-in model, which is an ideal specimen for looking at this disease. They were able to find the cell autonomous activation of bone morphogenetic signaling in proprioceptor sensory neurons^^^. This experiment was important to perform to help identify the initiation cellular events that are prevalent at the earlier diagnosis.

Dr. Lipscombe is a part of a team, The Bioluminescence Hub, that is working to develop new ways of performing and improving the technique of BioLuminescence, which allows cells to be viewed using light. This is a very valuable tool for neuroscience. This team also includes scientists from Central Michigan University, Brown University, and the Scintillon Institute in San Diego. Their goals are to make new techniques developed for BioLuminescence, such as multiple new colors and the ability to control brightness, as well as having this information available for many students and educators. This way, everyone can have a way of learning about BioLuminescence, regardless if you are a scientist or if you are a student.

Notable Lab Members[ edit]
Diane Lipscombe has been working at Brown University since 1992. Since then she has worked with many different people but three notable lab members include Stephanie Schorge, Jennifer Pan, and Annette Gray. Stephanie Schorge is a professor of translation neuroscience. Her focus is in mutation in ion channels which pertains to Dr. Lipscombes interest in the function of calcium ion channels. Diane Lipscombe works with manipulating ion channels and mutated ion channels to see their effect on the brain. It also has been studied to see how it related to neurodevelopmental diseases. Jennifer Pan, another notable lab member, has a focus in translational neurobiology as well, as she is the director of translational neurobiology at MIT. She worked alongside Diane Lipscombe in the study of calcium channel Cav3.3 activity with CACNA1I in schizophrenia. CACNA1I is the risk gene for schizophrenia candidates. This gene encodes the pore-forming CAv3.3 alpha1 subunit for voltage gated calcium channels. They worked to assess the impact this missense gene, CACNA1I had functionally in schizophrenia patients. Lastly, Annette Gray is the third notable member Diane Lipscombe works with in the lab. Annette has established excellence in various interdisciplinary research focuses including structural biology and neuroscience. As of March 2020, she is the senior executive director at the Neuroscience Institute of NYU Langone Health. While at Brown University Diane and Annette researched alternative splicing of neuronal Cav2 Calcium Channels.

Awards[ edit]
Dr. Lipscombe has received many awards and honors through her career. At the University of London College she graduated with a bachelors in 1982 and continued on to get a PhD in pharmacology in 1986. Later in 1989-1990 she was a Postdoctoral Fellow of the American Heart Association. The American Heart Association is a non-profit organization that raises money for cardiovascular research. Five years later in 1995 she attended the Steinbach MBL Summer Fellowship that is available to young researchers who were interested in doing research in a field of biology. She attended a similar fellowship in 2002 called the Catherine Filene Shouse MBL Summer Fellowship that targeted the same students interested in the biology field. In 1996 through 2001 she received the Research Career Development Award which helps provide training to graduate and doctoral students on individual research. Meanwhile, Dr. Lipscombe was an assistant professor to Richard and Edna Salomon for one year from 1998 to 1999. This happened at Brown University. In 2007 at the University of Maryland Baltimore she received recognition for the Daniel A. Nachshen Memorial Lecturer. She also received the Harriet W. Sheridan Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching at Brown University in 2009. At Brown University she received the Faculty Mentorship Award for advising and mentoring in 2010 at the graduate school. In 2011 she went to Robert Whitney Newcomb Memorial lecture where she received recognition with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, MD. That same year she was the Faculty Speaker at the Mid-Year Completion Ceremony at Brown University. In 2012 she attended and received recognition at the Joan Mott Prize Lecture with the Physiological Society in Edinburgh, UK. That same year she was elected Fellow by the Neuroscience Chapter by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She received the President’s Award for Excellence in faculty Governance at Brown University in 2013. The same year she went on to receive the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate and or Postdoctoral Teaching and Mentoring in Biological Science. She also received the Faculty Advising Fellow at Brown University this year. A couple years later in 2015 she was the American Association for the Advancement of Science elected member at Large for the Neuroscience Chapter. From 2015 to 2017 she was the Councilor for the Society for Neuroscience. After in 2017 she became the President-elect for the Society for Neuroscience and went on to become the President in 2018, and served as President until 2019. Also in 2017 she received recognition as a Thomas J. Watson Sr. Professor of Science at Brown University.

Committees and Boards[ edit]
After being the assistant professor she went on to be a member of the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Neuroscience IRG for the National Institutes of Health study section for four years from 1999-2003. She also became an elected council member of the Society of General Physiologists for three years from 2001-2004. She also was on the editorial board and reviewing editor for the Journal of Neuroscience from 2003 to 2007. For the Society for Neuroscience she was a member of the scientific publications committee from 2007 to 2010. For one year from 2009 to 2010 she was a member of the Board for the Butler Hospital in Providence, RI. She was a member of the Ethics Committee for the Society for Neuroscience in 2013. She became the Senior Editor for Brain Research from 2011 to 2013. She was also on the editorial board for the Journal of Neurophysiology for thirteen years from 2002 to 2015. She was the associate editor for the Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews for four years from 2010 to 2014. Then in 2011 she was a Chair member on the Scientific Publications Committee for the Society for Neuroscience and did this until 2014. From 2012 till now Diane has been on the Editorial Board for Channels. From 2012 until 2018 she was on the Board of Directors for the Care New England Health System in Rhode Island. In 2014 she was on the Faculty Advisory Board for the Brown First in the World (FITW) Scholars Program. The FITW program addresses and supports students that experience challenges in post-secondary education. In 2015 until 2019 she was a Member at Large for the Neuroscience Section for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Then in 2015 until 2019 she became the Councilor for the Society for Neuroscience. She also has a lot of current boards that she is still actively a part of. She has been on the Steering committee for the Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology for Providence Veterans Administration Hospital in Rhode Island. She has been on this committee since 2015. Another committee that she is still on and has been on since 2016 is the advisory board for the George and Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rhode Island. Currently, she has been an editor for the Current Opinion in Physiology and has been doing so since 2017.