'''Roderick MacKinnon''' (born 19 February 1956) is a professor of Molecular Neurobiology and [[Biophysics]] at [[Rockefeller University]] who won the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] together with [[Peter Agre]] in 2003 for his work on the structure and operation of [[ion channel]]s.<ref name="bnl">{{cite news|url=http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/2003/bnlip100803.htm|title=2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to Researcher Roderick MacKinnon|date=October 8, 2003|publisher=Brookhaven National Labs|accessdate=11 February 2010}}</ref><ref name="rock">{{cite web|url=https://www.rockefeller.edu/news/3783-nobel-prize-honors-rockefeller-university-scientist-roderick-mackinnon-for-revealing-process-of-electrical-signaling-in-humans-and-other-living-organisms/|title=Nobel Prize honors Rockefeller University scientist Roderick MacKinnon for revealing process of electrical signaling in humans and other living organisms|date=October 8, 2003|publisher=The Rockefeller University|accessdate=20 April 2018}}</ref><ref name="pmid11385491">{{cite journal |author=Birmingham K |title=Rod MacKinnon |journal=Nat. Med. |volume=7 |issue=6 |pages=648 |date=June 2001 |pmid=11385491 |doi=10.1038/89005 }}</ref>
==Biography==
===Early life and education===
MacKinnon was born in [[Burlington, Massachusetts]] and initially attended the [[University of Massachusetts Boston]]. MacKinnon then transferred to [[Brandeis University]] after one year, and there he received a bachelor's degree in [[biochemistry]] in 1978, studying [[calcium]] transport through the [[cell membrane]] for his honors thesis in Christopher Miller's laboratory. It was also at Brandeis where MacKinnon met his future wife and working-colleague Alice Lee.<ref name="autobio">{{cite book|last=MacKinnon|first=Roderick|title=The Nobel Prizes 2003|editor=Editor Tore Frängsmyr|publisher=Nobel Foundation|___location=Stockholm, Sweden|date=October 2003|accessdate=11 February 2010|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2003/mackinnon-autobio.html}}</ref>
After receiving his degree from Brandeis, MacKinnon entered medical school at [[Tufts University]].<ref name="pmid11385491" /> He got his M.D. in 1982 and received training in Internal Medicine at [[Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center|Beth Israel Hospital]] in Boston. He did not feel satisfied enough with the medical profession, so in 1986 he returned to Christopher Miller's laboratory at Brandeis for postdoctoral studies.<ref name="autobio" />
===Career===
In 1989 he was appointed assistant professor at [[Harvard University]] where he studied the interaction of the [[potassium channel]] with a specific toxin derived from scorpion venom, acquainting himself with methods of protein purification and [[X-ray crystallography]]. In 1996 he moved to [[Rockefeller University]] as a professor and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics where he started to work on the structure of the potassium channel. These channels are of particular importance to the [[nervous system]] and the heart and enable potassium ions to cross the [[cell membrane]].
