Walter Boron

Professor and Chairman

M.D., Ph.D., Washington University (St. Louis)
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Acid-base homeostasis, Gas channels

RESEARCH DESCRIPTION

Walter F. Boron is the David N. and Inez Myers/Antonio Scarpa Professor & Chairman of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Case Western Reserve University. He earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry at St. Louis University, and his M.D. and Ph.D. (Physiology & Biophysics—under the mentorship of Albert Roos) at Washington University in St. Louis. He joined Yale University as a postdoctoral fellow with Emile Boulpaep in 1978 and remained there for the next 29 years, serving as Chairman of the Department of Cellular & Molecular Physiology for three three-year terms (1989–1998). In 2007, he moved to Case Western Reserve University to chair the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. His honors include the Robert F. Pitts Award from the International Union of Physiological Sciences (1993), Homer Smith Award from the American Society of Nephrology (2005), and the Sharpey-Schafer Award from the Physiological Society (2008). He is a former President of the American Physiological Society, and editor of Physiological Reviews. He is currently editor of the journal Physiology. Together with Emile Boulpaep, Dr. Boron is co-editor of the textbook Medical Physiology. A Cellular and Molecular Approach. Dr. Boron’s lifelong research interest has been acid-base homeostasis. With his colleagues, he was the first to demonstrate cell-pH regulation, discovered and cloned several bicarbonate transporters, elucidated the sensing of molecular carbon dioxide and bicarbonate, and introduced several experimental paradigms for studying cellular acid-base physiology. The group now studies these problems from the level of structural biology to the function of living animals. More recently, following the initial descriptions of a membrane that is impermeable to gases and a channel that is permeable to gases, Dr. Boron’s group has extended its interest to understanding mechanisms of gas movement through aquaporins and Rh proteins, and the physiological significance of this movement.

RELATED RESEARCH AREAS

View Walter Boron's Publications on PubMed