Ryan Hibbs, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Ryan Hibbs graduated from Whitman College, a small liberal arts college in Washington State, with a combined degree in Chemistry/Biochemistry. During doctoral research at the University of California, San Diego, he studied ligand specificity and conformational changes in an ion channel ligand binding domain under the supervision of Dr. Palmer Taylor (Department of Pharmacology). As a post-doctoral fellow, he pursued structural and functional studies of ligand-gated ion channels in the laboratory of Dr. Eric Gouaux (HHMI/Vollum Institute).  He joined the faculty in the Departments of Neuroscience (primary) and Biophysics (secondary) in 2012.

The Hibbs laboratory is pursuing atomic-scale mechanisms of synaptic proteins, with a current focus on ligand-gated ion channel structure and function. We employ a multidisciplinary approach encompassing molecular biology, protein biochemistry, pharmacology, electrophysiology, x-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy.

Undergraduate

Whitman College (2000), Chemistry

Graduate School

University of California-San D (2006)

• Ion channel structure-function
• Membrane protein structural biology
• Neuropharmacology

Featured Publications

Structure and gating mechanism of the a7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.

Noviello CM, Gharpure A, Mukhtasimova N, Cabuco R, Baxter L, Borek D, Sine SM, Hibbs RE, Cell 2021 Mar

Shared structural mechanisms of general anaesthetics and benzodiazepines.

Kim JJ, Gharpure A, Teng J, Zhuang Y, Howard RJ, Zhu S, Noviello CM, Walsh RM, Lindahl E, Hibbs RE, Nature 2020 Sep

Structure of the Native Muscle-type Nicotinic Receptor and Inhibition by Snake Venom Toxins.

Rahman MM, Teng J, Worrell BT, Noviello CM, Lee M, Karlin A, Stowell MHB, Hibbs RE, Neuron 2020 Jun 106 6 952-962.e5

Agonist Selectivity and Ion Permeation in the a3ß4 Ganglionic Nicotinic Receptor.

Gharpure A, Teng J, Zhuang Y, Noviello CM, Walsh RM, Cabuco R, Howard RJ, Zaveri NT, Lindahl E, Hibbs RE, Neuron 2019 Aug

Structure of a human synaptic GABAA receptor

Zhu S, Noviello CM, Teng J, Walsh RM Jr, Kim JJ, Hibbs RE. Nature 2018 July

Structural principles of distinct assemblies of the human a4ß2 nicotinic receptor.

Walsh RM, Roh SH, Gharpure A, Morales-Perez CL, Teng J, Hibbs RE Nature 2018 May

X-ray structure of the human a4ß2 nicotinic receptor.

Morales-Perez CL, Noviello CM, Hibbs RE Nature 2016 Oct

Manipulation of Subunit Stoichiometry in Heteromeric Membrane Proteins.

Morales-Perez CL, Noviello CM, Hibbs RE Structure 2016 Mar

• Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research
  The Welch Foundation (2022)
• Outstanding Alumnus Award
  UC San Diego (2019)
• Alzheimer’s Disease Research Grant
  Friends of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center (2014)
• Klingenstein-Simons Award in the Neurosciences
  (2014)
• McKnight Scholar Award
  (2014)
• Chemical Research Grant
  The Welch Foundation (2013)
• NIH Pathway to Independence Award
  National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (2012)
• NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship
  National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (2007)
• Roland Robbins Pharmacology Dissertation Award
  PhD Thesis, UC San Diego (2006)