Peter Clarke was Associate Professor at the Department of Cell Biology and Morphology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Following a first degree in Engineering Science (1968) at the University of Oxford, he did a PhD with philosopher-neurobiologist Donald MacKay at the University of Keele (UK), then postdoctoral jobs in Oxford and St. Louis (USA), before moving to Lousanne in 1977. His research focussed on neuronal death – occurring naturally in development, or pathologically in cerebral ischemia and hypoxia. He has been awarded two international prizes (the Ingle Writing Award and the Demuth Foundation Award for Medical Research).
Peter Clarke was Associate Editor of the journal Science and Christian Belief and lectured widely on science and religion, mainly on questions relating to the brain. He was very active promoting science-religion dialogue in the French-speaking world and was a founding member of the Reseau des Scientifiques Evangeliques. He was a member of an evangelical church in Lausanne. He was a memeber of the Faraday Institute’s Advisory Board until his death in October 2015.
Recent publications in science and religion
- P.G.H. Clarke (2010) Determinism, Brain Function and Free Will. Science & Christian Belief 22 (2), 133-149.
- P.G.H. Clarke (2010) Dualism that Makes Contact with Science. Science & Christian Belief 22 (2), 171-172.
- P.G.H. Clarke (2009) Neuroscience and the Soul: A Response to Malcolm Jeeves. Science & Christian Belief 21 (1), 61-64.
- P. G.H. Clarke (2008) Book review of Why Psychology Needs Theology: A Radical-Reformation Perspective (eds Alvin Dueck & Cameron Lee) Science & Christian Belief 20 (1), 127-128.
Recent selected science publications
- A.-C. Bessero, F. Chiodini, E. Rungger-Brändle, C. Bonny & P.G.H. Clarke (2010) Role of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway in retinal excitotoxicity, and neuroprotection by its inhibition. J. Neurochem. 113, 1307-1318.
- A.-C. Bessero & P.G.H. Clarke (2010) Neuroprotection for optic nerve disorders. Curr. Opinion Neurol. 23, 10-15.
- J. Puyal & P.G.H. Clarke (2009) Targeting autophagy to prevent neonatal stroke damage. Autophagy 5, 1060-1061.
- J. Puyal, A. Vaslin, V. Mottier & P.G.H. Clarke (2009) Post-ischemic treatment of neonatal cerebral ischemia should target autophagy. Annals Neurol. 66, 378-389.
- A. Vaslin, C. Rummel & P.G.H. Clarke (2009) Unconjugated TAT carrier peptide protects against excitotoxicity. Neurotox. Res. 15, 123-126.
- A. Vaslin, J. Puyal & P.G.H. Clarke (2009) Excitotoxicity-induced endocytosis confers drug targeting in cerebral ischemia. Annals Neurol. 65, 337-347.
