page_title: Stephen Heinemann
section_title: Education and Career
hierarchical_section_title: Stephen Heinemann / Education and Career
caption_attribution_description: English: 360 degree panorama in the courtyard of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California. Photographed on an August morning by Gregg M. Erickson.
context_page_description: Stephen F. Heinemann was a professor of neuroscience at the Salk Institute. He was an early researcher in the field of molecular neuroscience, contributing to the current knowledge of how nerves communicate with each other, and the role of neurotransmitters. Stephen Heinemann died August 6, 2014 of kidney failure.
context_section_description: Heinemann graduated from CalTech with a bachelor's degree in 1962, and in 1967, he  earned a PhD in biochemistry at Harvard University under the mentorship of Matt Meselson, a well known geneticist and molecular biologist. He then did research as a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. His work at MIT was alongside A. Dale Kaiser. They focused on how transcription is related  to the phage lambda repressor synthesis. During his time at Stanford, he worked with Ethan Royal Signer. He joined the Salk Institute in 1970, where he founded the department of molecular neurobiology, which soon became known as one of the world's top research centers in the field. He did pioneering work in the subject of motor neurons and the neuromuscular junction. He remained at Salk until his retirement.
caption: 360 degree panorama in the courtyard of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California. Heinemann researched at the Salk Institute from 1970 until his retirement. Photographed on an August morning by Gregg M. Erickson.
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