Klaudiusz Robert Weiss

Klaudiusz Robert Weiss (1944 – 2022) was an American neuroscientist and professor. He was the Henry and Lillian Stratton Professorial Chair and Professor of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Weiss published over 250 scientific papers, primarily focused on the cellular and neuronal mechanisms of innate and acquired behaviors in the marine mollusk Aplysia californica. He was especially known for his work on neuromodulation and the co-transmission of neuropeptides.

Early life and education

Weiss was born in France to Polish-Jewish parents who returned to Poland in 1953. He received his early education in Italy and Poland, followed by a technical high school diploma. He studied sociology and psychology at the University of Warsaw, graduating with a master's degree in sociology in 1967. His interest in behavioral neurobiology led to a Ph.D. scholarship at the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, under Professor Jerzy Konorski.

Due to political upheaval and the anti-Semitic campaign in Poland, Weiss emigrated to the United States in 1971. He earned a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Stony Brook University in 1973.

Academic career

After completing his Ph.D., Weiss pursued postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Irving Kupfermann at the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University. He remained at Columbia as Assistant and later Associate Professor. In 1991, he joined the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as a tenured Professor of Neuroscience.

Research

As a postdoctoral fellow, Weiss began working on the feeding behavior of Aplysia californica, an invertebrate model system known for its large, accessible neurons. Along with Kupfermann, he conducted behavioral, physiological, and biochemical studies that contributed significantly to the concept of neuromodulation. One of his early achievements was demonstrating that cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) acts as a second messenger in neuronal communication.

As an independent investigator, Weiss examined the neuromuscular junction of Aplysia and the co-release of peptides with acetylcholine. His findings challenged prevailing views by showing that peptide transmitters could be released under normal physiological conditions and play key roles in neural function.

Later in his career, Weiss focused on neural circuits involved in feeding behavior and behavioral plasticity. He studied how neuromodulators influence repetition priming and task switching in neural networks.

Awards and distinctions

Weiss received several major honors, including:

McKnight Foundation Investigator Award
MERIT and Senior Scientist Awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Election as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Election as Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science

His research was continuously funded by NIH grants throughout his career.

Personal life

Weiss was married to Julia Przyboś, Professor Emeritus of French Literature at Hunter College, New York City.

Influences

Jerzy Konorski
Irving Kupfermann

Selected publications

Kupfermann, I., & Weiss, K.R. (1978). The Command Neuron Concept. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(01), 3–10. DOI:10.1017/S0140525X00059057
Weiss, K.R., Cohen, J.L., & Kupfermann, I. (1975). Potentiation of muscle contraction: a possible modulatory function of an identified serotonergic cell in Aplysia. Brain Research, 99(2), 381–386. DOI
Weiss, K.R., Cohen, J.L., & Kupfermann, I. (1978). Modulatory control of buccal musculature by a serotonergic neuron (metacerebral cell) in Aplysia. J Neurophysiol, 41(1), 181–203.
Cropper, E.C., Lloyd, P.E., Tenenbaum, R., Kupfermann, I., & Weiss, K.R. (1987). Multiple neuropeptides in cholinergic motor neurons of Aplysia: evidence for modulation intrinsic to the motor circuit. PNAS, 84(10), 3486–3490.
Friedman, A.K., & Weiss, K.R. (2010). Repetition priming of motoneuronal activity in a small motor network: intercellular and intracellular signaling. J Neurosci, 30(26), 8906–8919.

References

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