Dr. Timothy Lynagh is a group leader at the Michael Sars Centre at the University of Bergen, Norway, where his group analyses the evolution of ionotropic receptors to dissect the biophysical basis of their function. He received his PhD from UQ Australia, and did postdocs in Darmstadt and Copenhagen, before starting in Bergen in 2019 with an ERC Starting Grant. Work from his group has, for example, established how neuropeptides activate excitatory channels in various invertebrates, dissected the molecular evolution of NMDA receptors and AMPA receptors in complex animals, and uncovered why delta-type glutamate receptors in humans are relatively inactive. His lab also uses these discoveries to engineer novel chemogenetic tools for turning neurons on and off.