Diane Lipscombe is the Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Director of the Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Science and the Thomas J Watson Jr. Professor of Science in the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University.

Lipscombe studies ion channel regulation and function with particular focus on neuronal voltage-gated calcium ion channels in health and disease including chronic pain and neurological disorders. Lipscombe has uncovered molecular mechanisms that control the form and the function of calcium ion channels in different cell-types and disease states. The lab has shown that one class of calcium ion channel, Cacna1b gene, underlies dynamic changes in the responsiveness of nerves innervating the skin to heat. Pharmacological inhibition of these channels inhibits heat hypersensitivity associated with neuroinflammation and cytokine release. Lipscombe has also defined the molecular mechanisms that underlie cell-specific and developmentally regulated expression of functionally and pharmacologically distinct splice isoforms. The Lab is funded by NINDS.

Lipscombe is a past President of the Society for Neuroscience, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and honorary fellow of the Physiological Society (London, UK). At Brown, Lipscombe participates in student teaching and mentorship and numerous governance roles. Lipscombe chaired the Task Force on the Status of Women Faculty at Brown and has received several awards including the Harriet W Sheridan Award for Distinguished Contribution to Teaching and Brown’s Distinguished Research Achievement Award.