{{Short description|American physiologist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | image = <!--(filename only)--> | birth_name = Clay Margrave Armstrong | birth_date = 1934 | fields = Ion channels | workplaces = Duke University<br>University of Rochester<br> University of Pennsylvania | alma_mater = Washington University in St. Louis | doctoral_advisor = Andrew Fielding Huxley | known_for = Understanding of the functions of ion channel proteins in nerve cells | awards = Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, Gairdner Foundation International Award | spouse = Clara Franzini-Armstrong }} '''Clay Margrave Armstrong''' (born 1934)<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web |title=Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A |url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf |publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=April 25, 2011}}</ref> is an American physiologist and a former student of Andrew Fielding Huxley. Armstrong received his MD from Washington University School of Medicine in 1960. He is currently emeritus professor of physiology at the University of Pennsylvania.<ref>{{cite web |title=Clay M Armstrong, MD web page |url=http://www.med.upenn.edu/physiol/c_armstrong_bio.html |access-date=February 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120805100559/http://www.med.upenn.edu/physiol/c_armstrong_bio.html |archive-date=August 5, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He has also held professorial appointments at Duke University and the University of Rochester.
Armstrong was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 1996, and the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (shared with Bertil Hille and Roderick MacKinnon) in 1999,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://laskerfoundation.org/winners/function-and-structure-of-ion-channels/ |title=Function and structure of ion channels |year=1999 |website=laskerfoundation.org |publisher=Lasker Foundation |accessdate=August 28, 2022}}</ref> for his seminal contributions to our understanding of the functions of ion channel proteins in nerve cells. Armstrong was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1987, and was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999.<ref name=AAAS /> He won the 2001 Gairdner Foundation International Award.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gairdner.org/awardrecipients/awardees2/20071998/2001awarde/clayarmstr |title=Gairdner - les prix Canada Gairdner awards |access-date=October 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404030901/http://www.gairdner.org/awardrecipients/awardees2/20071998/2001awarde/clayarmstr |archive-date=April 4, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Armstrong is married to electron microscopist Clara Franzini-Armstrong.<ref name=Adler-1-B>{{cite journal|last1=Adler|first1=Elizabeth M.|title=Friends of Physiology: An Interview with Clara Franzini-Armstrong and Clay Armstrong|journal=The Journal of General Physiology|date=2013|volume=142|issue=5|doi=10.1085/jgp.201311115|pmc=3813384|pmid=24166877|page=479}}</ref>
==Ideas and influence== Much of the current understanding of ion channel structure and function can be attributed to the notion proposed by Clay Armstrong (with Bertil Hille). Armstrong provided the first general description of the K+ ion channel pore, including the fundamental ideas of a selectivity filter that can allow the rapid flow of K+ while excluding the flow of Na+ across the cell membrane; a wide inner vestibule; and a molecular gating element at the cytoplasmic side of the channel that controls the flow of ions through the pore.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Inactivation of the Potassium Conductance and Related Phenomena Caused by Quaternary Ammonium Ion Injection in Squid Axons |journal=The Journal of General Physiology |volume=54 |issue=5 |pages=553–575 |pmc=2225944 |year=1969 |last1=Armstrong |first1=C. M. |pmid=5346528 |doi=10.1085/jgp.54.5.553}}</ref> In addition, Armstrong's studies (with Francisco Bezanilla) that described the first measurement of charge movement associated with the activation of Na+-selective ion channels laid the groundwork for the current understanding of the molecular basis of electrical signaling in nerve and muscle cells.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Charge movement associated with the opening and closing of the activation gates of the Na channels |journal=The Journal of General Physiology |volume=63 |issue=5 |pages=533–552 |pmc=2203568 |year=1974 |last1=Armstrong |first1=C. M. |last2=Bezanilla |first2=F |pmid=4824995 |doi=10.1085/jgp.63.5.533}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Clay}} Category:American physiologists Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty Category:Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Category:Living people Category:1934 births Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Electrophysiologists Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine Category:Duke University faculty Category:University of Rochester faculty Category:Rice University alumni Category:Washington University School of Medicine alumni