David S Ragsdale
Associate Professor
PhD
Associate Member, Department of Physiology
Member, 91社区 Centre for Medical Education
David Ragsdale obtained his B.Sc. in psychology (1982) from the University of Illinois.聽He went on to acquire his PhD聽(1989) from the University of California聽in the Department of Psychobiology.聽 His postdoctoral studies聽(1990-1995) were聽carried out at the University of Washington in the Department of Pharmacology.聽
Dr. Ragsdale鈥檚 work focuses on improving the teaching and learning of neuroscience at 91社区. To that end, he teaches courses for undergraduate, graduate and medical students on topics ranging from cell and molecular neuroscience to neuroanatomy and philosophy of mind. As a member of the Faculty of Medicine Faculty Development Team and in collaboration with 91社区 Teaching and Learning Services, he conducts workshops and other activities for 91社区 faculty on best practices in teaching, student assessment and graduate student supervision. Dr. Ragsdale is former associate director of 91社区鈥檚 cross-disciplinary neuroscience graduate program, the Integrated Program in Neuroscience, a member of the 91社区 Institute for Health Science Research, and serves as the Deputy University Research Integrity Officer. Dr. Ragsdale has received several teaching awards including the Faculty of Medicine Honour List for Teaching Excellence, the Canadian Association for Medical Education Certificate of Merit, and the 91社区 Principal鈥檚 Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
Ragsdale, D.S., McPhee, J.C., Scheuer, T., and Catterall, W.A. Molecular determinants of state-dependent block of Na+ channels by local anesthetics. Science 265:1724-1728 (1994).
Li, H.-L., Galue, A., Meadows, L., and Ragsdale, D.S. A molecular basis for the different local anesthetic affinities of resting versus open and inactivated states of the sodium channel. Mol. Pharmacol. 55:134-141 (1999).
Magistretti, J., Ragsdale, D.S., and Alonso, A. Direct demonstration of persistent Na+ channel activity in dendritic processes of mammalian cortical neurons. J. Physiol. 521:629-636 (1999).
Meadows, L.S., Malhotra, J., Loukas, A., Thyagarajan, V., Kazen-Gillespie, K.A., Koopman, M.C., Kriegler, S., Isom, L.L., Ragsdale, D.S.* Functional and biochemical analysis of a sodium channel 飦�1 subunit mutation responsible for generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus type 1. J. Neurosci. 22:10699-10709 (2002).
Cossette, P., Loukas, A鈥�., LaFreni猫re, R.G., Rochefort, D., Ragsdale, D.S., Dunn R., Rouleau, G.A. Functional characterization of the D188V mutation in the neuronal voltage-gated sodium channel causing generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus. Epilepsy Res. 53:107-117 (2003).
Ragsdale D.S. How do mutant Nav1.1 sodium channels cause epilepsy? Brain Res. Rev. 58: 149-159 (2008).