Robert Edwards is a neuroscientist recognized for his work on neurotransmitter release. He is known for identifying the proteins that transport classical transmitters into neurosecretory vesicles. He has used these proteins to elucidate the mechanisms involved in packaging neurotransmitters and to determine how the synthesis of neurosecretory vesicles influences the release of classical transmitters, peptide hormones and neuromodulators. He wishes to understand how the properties of release contribute to information processing, behavior and disease. His recent work addresses the function of the protein alpha-synuclein and its role in Parkinson’s disease. Robert Edwards attended Yale College and Johns Hopkins Medical School. After clinical training at UCSF, he studied as a postdoctoral fellow with William Rutter and joined the faculty at UCLA before returning to UCSF in 1995 in the departments of neurology and physiology. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.