Seminar – John A. Gray, MD, PhD

Dr. Gray is a board certified psychiatrist with expertise in receptor pharmacology, cell biology, biochemistry and synaptic electrophysiology.

During his graduate studies at Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Gray studied the mechanisms involved in the desensitization and down-regulation of 5-HT2A serotonin receptors. These receptors are a primary target of most known hallucinogens as well as many antidepressants and second generation antipsychotics.

During his psychiatry residency at the University of California, San Francisco, he became interested in accumulating evidence suggesting that dysfunction of glutamate synapses and specifically NMDA-type glutamate receptors might underlie the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and other complex neuropsychiatric disorders.

Because of this interest, Dr. Gray pursued specialized postdoctoral research training at UCSF in synaptic electrophysiology and studied the physiological function of NMDA receptors during synapse maturation.

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