Sharpey-Schafer lecture

2nd November 2012 at 12.30pm in the Lecture Theatre, Hugh Robson Building

Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer was born in London on 2 June 1850. He began his career at University College, London, where he became Assistant Professor of Physiology, 1874-1883, then Jodrell Professor of Zoology and Anatomy at University College, 1883-1899.

Between 1899 and 1933, Sharpey-Schafer was Professor of Physiology at Edinburgh University. His most striking work was that associated with the endocrine organs and his observations on cutaneous sensation were also important. He gave many of the names to the subject of endocrinology, such as ’endocrine’, ’autocoid’ and was largely responsible for ‘insulin’. Work on the blood capillaries of the liver, the action of chloroform, the effects of section of the vagi and sympathetic nerves, the pulmonary circulation and the action of intercostal muscles are also areas in which Sharpey-Schafer worked.

Sharpey-Schafer's name is associated too with the Schafer method of artificial respiration. Apart from many journal articles he has published "The Essentials of Histology", a "Text-book of Physiology" and "The Endocrine Organs". He was also the founder of the ‘Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology’ in 1908.

Sharpey-Schafer was the first man to pursue physiology as the focus of a working life: he was a physiologist for 62 years.

Professor Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer died on 29 March 1935.

Image source: Wellcome Library, London.

Dr Patrice Mollard

Department of Endocrinology, Institute of Functional Genomics, Montpellier, France

Pituitary endocrine cell networks - 10 years and beyond

The secretion of peptide hormone by the pituitary gland is obligatory for controlling a wide-range of downstream physiological processes. To achieve this, endocrine cells must respond co-ordinately to hypothalamic input to release defined pulses of hormone into the bloodstream. The organ context is clearly essential for proper hormone release since enzymatically dispersed cells mount attenuated responses to secretagogue. Yet, scant attention has been paid to whether endocrine cell populations are organized at the tissue level within the pituitary. Recently, using transgenic animals allied to sophisticated in situ imaging techniques, we have shown that endocrine cells are homotypically organized into three-dimensional networks. In addition, using multicellular calcium imaging combined with online/real-time measures of hormone secretion, we have demonstrated that these networks play a crucial role in hormone release by integrating hypothalamic signals at the population level. As such, it is anticipated that perturbation of endocrine network function may underlie hormone deficits associated with pituitary dysfunction.

Dr Mollard's team at the Institute of Functional Genomics