Gentry Patrick

Gentry Namón Patrick is an American biologist and Professor of Neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego. His research investigates the mechanisms that underpin synaptic activity in the central nervous system. He spent his childhood in Compton and Watts. He was first inspired to work in science after taking part in an experimental biology laboratory, and would become the first member of his family to attend college. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley. Patrick completed a master's degree at the University of California, San Francisco, where he studied Pho85, a cyclin-dependent kinase involved in cell cycle progression. Patrick earned his doctoral degree at Harvard University, where he worked with the neuroscientist Li-Huei Tsai.

Research and career After his PhD, Patrick was a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Patrick joined the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 2004. His research investigates the synthesis and degradation of proteins at synapses, the dynamic control of which is required for neuroplasticity and signalling cascades. Patrick focusses on the role of the ubiquitin proteasome pathway in synaptic plasticity, and how it regulates AMPA (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid)-type receptor trafficking neurons. In 2019 PATHways to STEM, an educational programme launched by Patrick, was supported by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Selected publications His publications include: