Name:
Professor David Wallis HonFBPhS
Organisation:
Year elected:
1998
Primary professional setting:
Academia
Retired from the established chair in Physiology at Cardiff in 2000 where for 33 years his research focused on the pharmacology of neural signalling in mammals. His time at Cardiff saw the evolution of an independent Department of Physiology into a facet of a larger School of Biosciences. Research focused on the effect of 5-HT on autonomic, sensory and spinal motoneurones; collaboration occurred with the pharmaceutical industry on the actions of various 5-HT3 receptor ligands. Principal interests : synaptic transmission and its modulation, especially in the peripheral nervous system, spinal cord and the role of descending tracts on spinal outflow.Pharmacology and Physiology were preceded by a PhD at Cambridge on ant behaviour and a Postdoc in Philadelphia (olfaction in blowflies – see ‘In pursuit of the blood-red slavemaker – adventures in neurobiology, BioLine, 1988).Other books: ’If I were a blackbird: Recollections of Old Stevenage' (Fern House, 2005); 'Electrophysiology: A practical approach' (OUP, 1993)