Peter Somogyi

Peter Somogyi
FRS FMedSci
Born (1950-02-27) 27 February 1950 (age 74)
NationalityHungarian, British
OccupationProfessor of Neurobiology
EmployerUniversity of Oxford
Known forResearch on neuronal networks in the brain
Websitehttps://pharm.ox.ac.uk/research/somogyi-group

Peter Somogyi is the former Director of the Medical Research Council Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit at the University Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, England.[1]

Somogyi’s discoveries relate to understanding ways in which networks of neurons work in the brain. His first key discovery was to find that each ‘chandelier cell’ in the cerebral cortex exclusively forms synaptic connections only with the initial axon segments of potentially hundreds of pyramidal cells.[2] This is one example of a type of axo-axonic synapse. Somogyi followed this up to discover at least 21 types of connecting neurons (interneurons) in just part of the brain (hippocampus), each one of which formed synapses with specific parts of other neurons.[3] Somogyi then studied the electrical activity of neurons and their spatial organisation, which he named the ‘chronocircuit’ within the cortex of the brain.[4]

Amongst many scientific honours he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 2000,[5] and awarded the first (together with hungarian co-winners Gyorgy Buzsaki and Tamás Freund) Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Foundation Brain Prize in 2011.[6]

  1. ^ "Somogyi Group". Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  2. ^ Somogyi, P. (11 November 1977). "A specific 'axo-axonal' interneuron in the visual cortex of the rat". Brain Research. 136 (2): 345–350. doi:10.1016/0006-8993(77)90808-3. ISSN 0006-8993. PMID 922488.
  3. ^ Somogyi, Peter; Klausberger, Thomas (January 2005). "Defined types of cortical interneurone structure space and spike timing in the hippocampus". The Journal of Physiology. 562 (1): 9–26. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2004.078915. ISSN 0022-3751. PMC 1665488. PMID 15539390.
  4. ^ Somogyi, Peter; Katona, Linda; Klausberger, Thomas; Lasztóczi, Bálint; Viney, Tim J. (5 February 2014). "Temporal redistribution of inhibition over neuronal subcellular domains underlies state-dependent rhythmic change of excitability in the hippocampus". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 369 (1635): 20120518. doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0518. ISSN 0962-8436. PMC 3866441. PMID 24366131.
  5. ^ "Member Peter Somogyi". Royal Society. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Biography Peter Somogyi". The Brain Prize. European Brain Research Foundation. Retrieved 26 April 2016.