# Clara Franzini-Armstrong

Clara Franzini-Armstrong (born October 3, 1938 in Florence) is an electron microscopist and Professor Emeritus of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania.

## Early life

Clara Franzini was born on October 3, 1938, in Florence, Italy, along with her twin brother. She lived with her mother, father, and three brothers: Paolo, Carlo, and Marco.
Franzini-Armstrong expressed an interest in science during schooling. Her father was an atomic physicist, and her mother was one of the few women of that time who earned a physics degree. Though her mother did not pursue a science career, Franzini-Armstrong reports that she strongly encouraged her to pursue one herself, noting that “She gave [her] total equality with [her] brothers in all academic questions."

## Education

In 1956, Franzini-Armstrong enrolled in the biological sciences program at the University of Pisa, and she graduated with her Ph.D. degree in 1960. She became interested in electron microscopy after the Ministry of Education gave an electron microscope to the University of Pisa.
Franzini-Armstrong underwent postdoctoral training at Keith R. Porter's laboratory at Harvard University. Her first major discovery was that transverse tubules open at the cell surface, which helps explain how muscle is activated to contract.
From 1963–1964, Franzini-Armstrong worked as Richard Podolsky's research assistant at the National Institutes of Health. From 1964–1966, she studied contractile machinery and optics in Sir Andrew Huxley's lab. From 1967–1975, Paul Horowitz helped Franzini-Armstrong with her transition from trainee to a faculty member at the University of Rochester.

## Career

Franzini-Armstrong's primary interest has been the disposition of membranes and macromolecular complexes that are responsible for excitation-contraction (e-c) coupling in cardiac and skeletal muscles. She engaged in four main phases of structural work. Her first phase focused on calcium cycling, particularly on defining the distribution and nature of the two membrane systems involved in this specific type of cycling. Franzini-Armstrong's second phase discovered the location of channels that release calcium during muscle activation. She also demonstrated that in muscles that can engage in high activity rates, a limiting factor is the density of the pump protein and not the density of calcium release channels. The third phase recognized the relationship between the L-type calcium channels of the plasmalemma and T-tubules in cardiac and skeletal muscles. Specifically, she worked with CaV channels or dihydropyridine receptors (DHPRs) and the calcium release channels of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (RyRs). Her fourth phase is the supramolecular complex that enables several molecules located in the sarcoplasmic reticulum that regulate calcium release to interact with one another. Franzini-Armstrong continues to utilize structural approaches to better comprehend the different interactions between molecules.
Franzini-Armstrong earned her Laurea degree in biological sciences at the University of Pisa, Italy from 1956–1960. From 1960–1961, she worked as an assistant professor of pathology at the University of Pisa. She earned her postdoctoral degree in cell biology at Harvard University as while working in Dr. K. R. Porter's biology lab from 1961–1963. From 1963–1964, she worked at the National Institutes of Health with Dr. R. J. Podolsky and earned a master of research degree in muscle physiology. From 1964–1966, she worked as a research assistant at the University College, London, with Prof. A. F. Huxley and earned another master of research degree in muscle structure. From 1967–1969, she worked as a research associate in physiology at Duke University. From 1969–1972, she worked as an associate in physiology at the University of Rochester. She was an assistant professor in physiology at the University of Rochester from 1972–1975. From 1975–1981, she was an associate professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. From 1981–1992, she worked as a professor in anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania. Then, she worked as a professor in cell and developmental biology at the University of Pennsylvania from 1992–2007.
Franzini-Armstrong has been an Emeritus Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania since 2007. She and her husband Clay Armstrong are the only married couple to be members of the National Academy of Sciences. Her work has primarily focused on electron microscopy of the inner workings of cells, specifically the structural bases of excitation-contraction coupling.

## Personal life

Franzini-Armstrong is married to Clay Armstrong, a channel electrophysiologist and professor of physiology at the University of Pennsylvania. They have one son and three daughters.

## Honors and awards

From 1956–1960 in Pisa, Italy, Franzini-Armstrong held the honor of Fellowship: Scuola Normale Superiore, and from 1990–1961 in Pisa, Italy, she held the honor of “Perfezionamento” (postdoctoral fellowship), Scuola Normale Superiore. From 1983–1987, she held the honor of being a member of the Molecular Cytology Study Section. In 1988, she was awarded the position of director of the Gordon Research Conference on Excitation-Contraction Coupling. From 1988–1990, she held the honor of being a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Then, from 1988–1990, she was a council member of the Biophysical Society. In 1989, she was the co-recipient with Dr. Knox Chandler of the K.C. Cole Award of the Biophysical Society and, in 1990, she was honored with the position of co-chairman of the Biophysical Society Symposium on Excitation-Contraction Coupling. In 1995, she was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. In 1997, she was awarded an honorary MD from the University of Pisa, Italy. In 2001, she was inducted into the Royal Society London as a foreign member. She was inducted into the European Academy of Sciences in 2005 followed by the 2007 Founder's Award for the Biophysical Society.