Andrew John King (born 8 April 1959)
[ is a British neurophysiologist who is a ]Professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
of Neurophysiology
Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience concerned with the functions of the nervous system and their mechanisms. The term ''neurophysiology'' originates from the Greek word ''νεῦρον'' ("nerve") and ''physiology'' (whic ...
and Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow
Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowships are research fellowships awarded to scientists who are recognised by the Wellcome Trust as having "international standing with an established track record in research at the highest level."
Awards prov ...
in the Department of Physiology
Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...
, Anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...
and Genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
at the University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
and a Fellow
A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
of Merton College, Oxford
Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...
.
Education
King was educated at Northolt High School[ and graduated from ]King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
with a Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
degree and was a PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
student at the National Institute for Medical Research
The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC);
In 2016, the NIMR became part of the new F ...
[ where his doctoral research investigated the representation of visual and auditory space in the ]superior colliculus
In neuroanatomy, the superior colliculus () is a structure lying on the tectum, roof of the mammalian midbrain. In non-mammalian vertebrates, the Homology (biology), homologous structure is known as the optic tectum or optic lobe. The adjective f ...
of guinea pig
The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy ( ), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'', family Caviidae. Animal fancy, Breeders tend to use the name "cavy" for the ani ...
s. His was awarded a PhD in 1984 by the University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
.
Career and research
King discovered that the mammalian brain
The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...
contains a spatial map of the auditory world and showed that its development is shaped by sensory experience.[ His work has also demonstrated that the adult brain represents sound features in a remarkably flexible way, continually adjusting to variations in the statistical distribution of sounds associated with different acoustic environments as well to longer term changes in input resulting from hearing loss.][ In addition to furthering our understanding of the neural basis for auditory perception, his research is helping to inform better treatment strategies for the ]hearing impaired
Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to Hearing, hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to Lang ...
.[
]
Awards and honours
King was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 2018 for "substantial contributions to the improvement of natural knowledge".[ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: ] He is also a Fellow of The Physiological Society
The Physiological Society, founded in 1876, is an international learned society for physiologists with headquarters in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
History
The Physiological Society was founded in 1876 as a dining society "for mutual benefit ...
.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Andrew John
1959 births
Living people
Alumni of King's College London
Academics of the University of Oxford
Fellows of Merton College, Oxford
Fellows of the Royal Society
Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellows
Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)