Society of
General physiologists

The SGP Council is pleased to announce the 2020 Cranefield Award winners:

Paul F. Cranefield Award

Federico F. Trigo for "Differentially poised vesicles underlie fast and slow components of release at single synapses" Journal of General Physiology 152 (5) e201912523; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.201912523

Cranefield Postdoctoral Fellow Award

Martin L. Prieto for "Spike frequency–dependent inhibition and excitation of neural activity by high-frequency ultrasound" Journal of General Physiology 152 (11) e202012672; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.202012672

Prieto and colleagues show that ultrasound waves can increase potassium conductance eliciting competing inhibitory and excitatory effects on action potential firing, possibly via local increases in tissue temperature and in cell membrane tension.

Cranefield Graduate Student Award

Cassandra L. Hays for "Resting and stimulated mouse rod photoreceptors show distinct patterns of vesicle release at ribbon synapses" Journal of General Physiology 152 (12): e202012716; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.202012716

Hays and colleagues report the unexpected finding that at the resting potential in darkness rods photoreceptor cells release coordinated bursts of glutamate-filled suggesting that this behavior may have a role in transmitting dim-light responses.