Andrew Koob
Andrew Koob (born 1976) is an American neuroscientist and writer. Koob is the author of The Root of Thought, which explores the theory that the astrocyte, a type of glial cell in the brain, is 'responsible for our creative and imaginative existence as human beings.'
Originally thought to do nothing in the brain, glial cells are now believed to be the new frontier in neuroscience research and play a significant role in brain processing. Earlier concepts, such as Robert Galambos's theory AbOUT glial cell involvement in synaptic functioning, were controversial. When published in 1961, this theory resulted in Galambos's forced departure from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. However, since the discovery of gliotransmitters, the idea of ACTIVE glial cell involvement in brain function is considered valid, and Koob discusses what may have led to the repression of glial research throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries. He argues that there is no concrete evidence to discount that the astrocyte has the central role in thought processing instead of neurons. Recent evidence has indicated that astrocytes control neuronal function during learning and memory and act as the brain's 'supervisors', as well as control other functions originally believed to be strictly the domain of neurons.
Koob received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Purdue University and was a researcher in Pediatric Neurosurgery at Dartmouth College, the Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego and the molecular neurogenetics lab at the University of Munich in Klinikum Grosshadern. He is currently a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls where he teaches neurobiology.
Koob is from Cascade, Iowa.