Christopher J. Lingle, PhD

Christopher J. Lingle, PhD, professor of anesthesiology and of neurobiology, is honored as an internationally renowned investigator known for the depth and breadth of his research on ion channels.

Lingle is a world leader in studying calcium-activated (BK) potassium channels. He has defined Ca2+-regulatory sites involved in channel activation, has revealed unusual features of their mechanisms of inactivation, and extensively probed a family of tissue-specific BK-channel auxiliary subunits that are important targets for drug development. The contributions of the Lingle lab toward understanding the diversity of function conveyed on BK channels by auxiliary subunits is now helping to uncover cell-specific physiological roles for these channels and their linkages to specific pathologies. He is published in the top journals, and his work is continuously funded with multiple National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants.

Lingle has held editorial responsibilities on several journals, including the Journal of General Physiology and Biophysical Journal, and had given several international lectures, including the International Caesar Conference in Bonn, Germany, and the 5th International Ion Channel Conference in Luzhou, China.

He earned his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Oregon in 1972 and 1979, respectively, then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Brandeis University. Lingle joined the Washington University faculty in 1987.