Simon R. Schultz

Imperial College London, London Centre for Nanotechnology

Papers

Total Citations

139

H-Index

About

Simon R. Schultz is a neuroscientist and biomedical engineer whose research sits at the compelling intersection of electrophysiology, robotics, and neural circuit analysis. Best known for his pioneering contributions to automated patch-clamp technology, Schultz has fundamentally advanced how researchers study cellular function in the brain. His landmark 2017 paper on robotic automation of in vivo two-photon targeted whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology (70 citations) demonstrated that automation could move beyond "blind" recording to precisely target genetically and morphologically defined cell populations — a significant leap in experimental specificity. Building on this, his 2018 review of progress in automating patch-clamp cellular physiology (61 citations) positioned him as a key synthesizer of the field, charting how automated platforms have evolved to address both voltage- and ligand-gated channels. More recently, Schultz's group introduced a quad whole-cell patch-clamping robot capable of simultaneously recording from four cells using two-photon targeting, dramatically scaling up experimental throughput. Collectively, his work has transformed patch-clamp electrophysiology from a painstaking manual craft into a high-precision, scalable methodology, making his contributions essential reading for anyone working at the frontier of systems and cellular neuroscience.