Donald W. Pfaff

Donald Pfaff was born in on December 9, 1939.{{Cite book |title=Handbook of neuroendocrinology |date=2012 |publisher=Academic Press |others=Fink, George., Pfaff, Donald W., 1939-, Levine, Jon E. |isbn=9780123750976 |location=[Place of publication not identified] |oclc=756490849}} He graduated from Harvard College, magna cum laude (1961), and received a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1965). After further training at MIT and the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, he joined The Rockefeller University in 1966 as a post-doctoral fellow. He was appointed assistant professor in 1969, promoted to associate professor in 1971, and gained tenure in 1973. He has been professor and head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior since 1978.{{Cite journal |last1=Choleris |first1=Elena |last2=McCarthy |first2=Margaret M. |last3=Kavaliers |first3=Martin |date=January 2012 |title=Daniel S. Lehrman Lifetime Achievement Award: Sex in the brain: Donald Wells Pfaff and motivation from genes to molecules to behavior |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/hormones-and-behavior/vol/61/issue/1 |journal=Hormones and Behavior |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=1–3 |doi=10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.12.015 |via=Elsevier Science Direct |s2cid=54402047|url-access=subscription }}

Early in his career, Pfaff developed techniques to discover both estrogen and androgen receptors in rat brains.{{Cite journal |last1=Pfaff |first1=Donald |last2=Keiner |first2=Melvyn |date=1973-09-15 |title=Atlas of estradiol-concentrating cells in the central nervous system of the female rat |journal=The Journal of Comparative Neurology |volume=151 |issue=2 |pages=121–157 |doi=10.1002/cne.901510204 |issn=1096-9861 |pmid=4744471 |s2cid=19861291}}{{Cite journal|last=Pfaff|first=Donald W.|date=1968-09-27|title=Autoradiographic Localization of Radioactivity in Rat Brain after Injection of Tritiated Sex Hormones|journal=Science|volume=161|issue=3848|pages=1355–1356|doi=10.1126/science.161.3848.1355|issn=0036-8075|pmid=5673448|bibcode=1968Sci...161.1355P|s2cid=27444660}} Within 15 years, it was clear that the limbic/hypothalamic system he discovered in rat brains was universal among vertebrate brains as well.{{Cite book |last=Ganten |first=D. (Detlev) |title=Morphology of Hypothalamus and Its Connections |date=1986 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |others=Pfaff, Donald. |isbn=9783642714634 |location=Berlin, Heidelberg |oclc=840294755}}

His laboratory worked out the first nerve cell circuit for a mammalian behavior, discovered hormone-sensitive genes in the brain; and integrated these findings to show how specific gene expression in a small part of the brain can regulate behavior.{{Cite news|title=Expert Says Sense of Smell is Most Important|last=Geyer|first=Joan|date=11 November 1977|work=Anaheim California Bulletin}} Pfaff also discovered that the nerve cells which control all reproductive processes—neurons that express the gene for the peptide called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)—are not born in the brain (as are most neurons), but in the nose, from which they migrate into the brain.{{Cite book |last=Bentley |first=P. |title=Comparative vertebrate endocrinology |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521629980 |edition=3rd |location=Cambridge, UK |page=28 |oclc=37239013}}{{Cite journal|last1=Schwanzel-Fukuda|first1=Marlene|last2=Pfaff|first2=Donald W.|date=March 1989|title=Origin of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone neurons|journal=Nature|volume=338|issue=6211|pages=161–164|doi=10.1038/338161a0|pmid=2645530|bibcode=1989Natur.338..161S|s2cid=4310861|issn=1476-4687}}

Pfaff also formulated a concept of the fundamental brain processes, “generalized brain arousal” (GA), and studied the development of arousal-related neurons, their anatomy, and neurophysiology.{{Cite book|title=Knobil and Neill's physiology of reproduction|others=Plant, T. M. (Tony M.), Zeleznik, Anthony,, Knobil, Ernst.|isbn=9780123971753|edition= 4th|location=Amsterdam|oclc=897442559|last1 = Plant|first1 = Tony M.|last2=Zeleznik|first2=Anthony J.|date=2014-12-30}}

Pfaff’s lab has published more than 900 research papers, and he has written or edited more than 25 books. Pfaff conceived and edited a comprehensive survey of neuroscience, Neuroscience in the 21st Century,{{Cite book|title=Neuroscience in the 21st Century : from basic to clinical|others=Pfaff, Donald W., 1939-, Volkow, Nora D., 1956-|isbn=978-1493934737|edition= Second |location=New York, NY|oclc=961912670|last1 = Pfaff|first1 = Donald W.|last2=Volkow|first2=Nora D.|date=2016-10-27}} which was distributed electronically without cost, to colleges and medical schools in economically developing countries.{{Cite web|url=http://ibro.info/news/new-comprehensive-neuroscience-textbook-free-to-universities-in-low-income-countries/|title=IBRO {{!}} New comprehensive neuroscience textbook: free to universities in low-income countries|website=ibro.info|access-date=2018-01-20}} Among his books, Estrogens and Brain Function{{Cite book|title=Estrogens and Brain Function : Neural Analysis of a Hormone-Controlled Mammalian Reproductive Behavior|last=Pfaff|first=Donald W.|date=1980|publisher=Springer New York|isbn=978-1461380863|location=New York, NY|oclc=852790540}} united the fields of endocrinology and neuroscience. Drive{{Cite book |last=Pfaff |first=Donald W. |url=https://archive.org/details/driveneurobiolog0000pfaf |title=Drive: Neurobiological and molecular mechanisms of sexual motivation |date=1999 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0262661478 |location=Cambridge, Mass. |oclc=44963864 |url-access=registration}} demonstrated the mechanisms for a simple reproductive behavior, and argued that the lessons learned informed our understanding of the physiological basis of libido. Brain Arousal and Information Theory{{Cite book |last=Pfaff |first=Donald W. |title=Brain arousal and information theory: Neural and genetic mechanisms |date=2006 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0674019201 |location=Cambridge, Mass. |oclc=431398899}} addressed the mechanisms that wake up the entire brain as well as their damping down by sleep, anesthesia or traumatic brain injury. The Altruistic Brain,{{Cite book|title=The altruistic brain : how we are naturally good|last=Pfaff|first=Donald W.|isbn=978-0199377466|location=Oxford|oclc=875629963|year = 2015}} co-written with Dr. Sandra Sherman, argued that altruistic behavior can be considered as a natural neurophysiological phenomenon, and put forth an elegant theory of how such prosocial behaviors can be explained without reference to any unusual neural capacities. How the Vertebrate Brain Regulates Behavior; A Field Develops{{Cite book|title=How the vertebrate brain regulates behavior: Direct from the lab|last=Pfaff|first=Donald W.|date=22 May 2017|isbn=978-0674660311|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|oclc=959871694}} offers Pfaff’s perspective on his more than fifty years in neuroscience.

He is a member of the Editorial Board for PNAS.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pnas.org/page/about/editorial-board|title = Editorial Board | PNAS}}

• Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1992{{Cite web|url=https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/28667/title/Nine-Women-Among-60-Scientists-Elected-To-NAS/|title=Nine Women Among 60 Scientists Elected To NAS|last=Sankaran|first=Neeraja|date=13 June 1994|website=The Scientist|access-date=16 January 2018}}
• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1994{{Cite web|url=https://www.amacad.org/peerCollaboration/profile.aspx?c=psa&q=pfaff|title=Academy Member Connection|website=www.amacad.org|access-date=2018-01-16}}
• National Institutes of Health MERIT Award, 2003
• Award for Excellence in Professional and Scholarly Publishing, Assoc. American Publishers, 2005
• Foundation IPSEN Prize in Neuronal Plasticity, 2010
• Daniel S. Lehrman Lifetime Achievement Award, Society for Behavioral Endocrinology, 2011{{Cite web|url=https://sbn.org/awards/daniel-s-lehrman-award.aspx|title=Daniel S. Lehrman Lifetimes Achievement Award in Behavioral Neuroendicrinology|access-date=16 January 2018}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.rockefeller.edu/our-scientists/heads-of-laboratories/887-donald-w-pfaff Donald Pfaff, The Rockefeller University]

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Category:21st-century American biologists

Category:American textbook writers

Category:Living people

Category:1939 births

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni

Category:Rockefeller University faculty

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Writers from Rochester, New York

Category:Scientists from New York (state)