George Reeke holds tenure as Associate Professor and directs the Laboratory of Biological Modeling at The Rockefeller University, serving also as a Senior Fellow of The Neurosciences Institute. His educational background includes a B.S. from Caltech (Baxter Prize recipient), plus M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. He received both a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship. His early career involved protein crystallography training under Dick Marsh at Caltech and Bill Lipscomb at Harvard. His doctoral research produced one of the first atomic coordinate sets for any protein, that of the enzyme carboxypeptidase A. At Rockefeller University since 1970, he collaborated with Gerald Edelman on protein structures relevant to immune system function. He developed early microprocessor-controlled laboratory instruments and X-ray camera technology. From the late 1970s onward, his research shifted toward pattern recognition, perceptual categorization, and motor control through neuronal system simulations. Notable collaborative projects include brain-based robot networks with Edelman's group, computational neuron modeling methods with Allan Coop, neuronal spike train analysis techniques, primate visual cortex models with Valentin Piech, bird song learning models with Cameron Wellock, and anesthetic propofol mechanism studies with Kingsley Storer. Additionally, he directs the Peggy Rockefeller Concerts, serves on the Journal of Integrative Neuroscience editorial board, and has authored approximately 100 scientific papers.
Roundtable Appearances
