Nicoll and his colleagues have made several contributions to our understanding of the basic operation of synapses in the brain. In recent years, he has focused on mechanisms that modify synaptic transmission.

Activity-dependent modification of synaptic transmission permits transient signals, such as a brief sound or whiff of an odor, to produce long-lasting effects on the nervous system. This kind of synaptic modification is widely believed to play a crucial role in learning and memory, although the responsible mechanisms are not well understood.

For years, the emphasis in studying how changes in synaptic strength occur has been on a single synapse. Activity can alter the strength of a single synapse either by changing the amount of transmitter released by the pre-synaptic cell or by changing how sensitive the post-synaptic cell is to the transmitter.

Nicoll and his colleagues have recently provided clear evidence for a third mechanism: electrical activity in the pre-synaptic cell can recruit existing, but previously silent, synapses, so that they will participate in the transmission of subsequent electrical signals. He will emphasize this recent work in his lecture.

He received a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from Lawrence University in Wisconsin and an M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine. His honors thesis on synaptic mechanisms in the olfactory system won the Bordon Award for the best medical research completed during medical school. His postdoctoral training was at the National Institute of Mental Health, and he then spent two years as a faculty member at the State University of New York at Buffalo before moving to UCSF in 1975. One of the most notable of Nicoll’s many scientific awards is his election to the National Academy of Sciences.

The Einar Hille Memorial Lecture in Neurosciences was established by Kristi Hille in honor of her late husband. Dr. Hille was a professor of mathematics at Yale University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Their son, Dr. Bertil Hille, is a professor of physiology and biophysics at the UW.