Arthur Karlin was born 1936 in Philadelphia, PA. In 1957, he graduated from Swarthmore College, where he majored in Mathematics and minored in Chemistry and Physics. In 1962, he received a Ph.D from Rockefeller University. His thesis title was “The inactivation of neurohypophyseal hormones by the toad bladder.” From 1962 to 1965 he was a postdoctoral trainee with David Nachmansohn at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, during which time he started working on acetylcholine receptors and on acetylcholinesterase. He has been at Columbia ever since, still working on acetylcholine receptors. Currently he is Higgins Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, and Neurology and Director of the Center for Molecular Recognition. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the National Academy of Sciences.

Email: ak12@columbia.edu