About

Ryan Hibbs, PhD, is a Professor and Chair of Neurobiology and a Professor of Pharmacology. He is the Principal Investigator of the Hibbs Lab. Ryan studied Chemistry & Biochemistry at Whitman College, a small liberal arts college in Washington State, graduating in 2000. He completed his PhD research at UCSD with Palmer Taylor from 2001 to 2006, and his postdoctoral research with Eric Gouaux at the Vollum Institute from 2007 to 2012. He started his independent lab in 2012 in the Departments of Neuroscience and Biophysics at UT Southwestern Medical School, where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. In 2023, he moved his research lab to UC San Diego. He maintains an adjunct appointment in Neuroscience at UT Southwestern. His awards and honors include the Klingenstein and McKnight Scholar awards, the UC San Diego Outstanding Alumnus Award, the Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Disease, and the Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research.

Research topics

• Biology
• Neuroscience
• Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Pharmacology
• Biophysics
• Genetics
• Medicine
• Evolutionary biology
• Ecology
• Computational biology

Selected publications

• Structural basis of sensory receptor evolution in octopus

  Nature · 2023 · 56 citations

  • Biology
  • Biophysics
  • Neuroscience
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sensory specializations drive octopus and squid behaviour

  Nature · 2023 · 59 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Evolutionary biology
  • Neuroscience
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Structure and gating mechanism of the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

  Cell · 2021 · 296 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Neuroscience
  • Computational biology
  DOI

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

  Neuron · 2020 · 203 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Biophysics
  • Chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  DOI

• Shared structural mechanisms of general anaesthetics and benzodiazepines

  Nature · 2020 · 375 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Chemistry
  • Pharmacology
  • Biophysics
  DOI

Recent grants

• Structural biology of the alpha4beta2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

  NIH · $368k · 2014–2017

• 3D Structure and mechanism of the alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

  NIH · $1.8M · 2016–2022

• NIH Grant F32NS061404

  NIH · $149k · 2010

• Structure and Function of GABA-A receptors

  NIH · $3.7M · 2019–2029

• Structural studies of heteromeric nicotinic acetylcholine receptors

  NIH · $2.0M · 2016–2023

Frequent coauthors

• Colleen Noviello

  University of California, San Diego

  538 shared

• MD Rahman

  Bangladesh University of Textiles

  446 shared

• Umang Goswami

  438 shared

• Guipeun Kang

  The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

  361 shared

• Harry Scott

  Oregon Health & Science University

  248 shared

• Jeong Joo Kim

  147 shared

• Dagimhiwat Legesse

  The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

  145 shared

• Weronika Chojnacka

  University of California, San Diego

  141 shared

Labs

• HIBBS LABPI

Awards & honors

• Roland Robbins PhD dissertation award
• Klingenstein-Simons Scholar award
• McKnight Scholar award
• UCSD Outstanding Alumnus Award
• Norman Hackerman Award in Chemical Research

Similar researchers at University of California, San Diego

• Ronald M. Evansh-300
• Rob Knighth-297
• Michael (Geoff) Rosenfeldh-224
• Don W. Clevelandh-213
• Anders M Daleh-209