1. Jean-Pierre Changeux was born in Domont, France to Marcel Jean-Pierre Changeux and Jeanne Benoit.
22 Facts About Jean-Pierre Changeux
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Jean-Pierre Changeux entered the Ecole Normale Superieure in 1955, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in 1957 and a master's degree in 1958.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux received his agregation in natural science the same year.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux began his scientific career during his ENS years during summer internships in Banyuls-sur-Mer where he identified a new genus of parasitic Copepod.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux pursued PhD studies at the Pasteur Institute under the direction of Jacques Monod and Francois Jacob, and gained his doctorate in 1964.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux then left France for postdoctoral studies first at the University of California Berkeley then at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux returned to France as attache to the chair of Molecular Biology held by Jacques Monod.
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In 1975, Jean-Pierre Changeux was elected professor at the College de France, chair of Cell Communications, position that he held until 2006.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux is author of more than 600 scientific articles and several books, technical or for general audience.
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All his scientific career, Jean-Pierre Changeux has been faithful to a handful of scientific questions, at molecular, cellular and brain levels.
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In 1967, Jean-Pierre Changeux extended the MWC model to bi-dimensional lattice of receptors.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux then applied this idea to the post-synaptic membrane of electric organs.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux's team demonstrated the existence of several interconvertible states for the nicotinic receptor, resting, open and desensitized, displaying different affinities for the ligands, such as the endogenous agonist acetylcholine.
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The group of Jean-Pierre Changeux was among the firsts to elucidate the primary structure of the subunits of the receptor, in parallel with the group of Shosaku Numa and Stephen Heinemann.
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In 1973, together with Philippe Courrege and Antoine Danchin, Jean-Pierre Changeux proposed a model describing how, during development of the nervous system, the activity of a network could cause the stabilization or regression of the synapses involved and illustrated it with the neuromuscular junction.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux received the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science, Rockefeller University, New-York, 2005.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux has chaired the inter-ministry commission for the conservation of the French artistic heritage since 1989, and has been member of the scientific council of the International Agency of museums since 2007.
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Last, throughout his career, Jean-Pierre Changeux has been concerned by the ethical consequences for the city and for the society in general of the recent progress in the Neuroscience.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux has headed the National Advisory Committee on Bioethics in France from 1992 to 1998.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux organised a scientific conference on the topic, that led to a book he edited, fondements naturel de l'ethique.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux is presently the co-chairman of the Ethics and Society division of the European Human Brain Program.
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Jean-Pierre Changeux is on the Board of Scientific Governors of The Scripps Research Institute, an independent not-for profit biomedical research institute.