Education: BS, Biology, Seattle Pacific University, 1977; Secondary Teaching Certificate, Seattle Pacific University, 1978; MS, Washington State University, 1983; PhD, Washington State University, 1988. At SPU 1978–80; and since 1991.
Rick Ridgway’s research focuses on cellular biology, using primarily invertebrate animals for studies of nervous system regeneration and immune system function that serve as model systems for mammalian neural disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The techniques Dr. Ridgway employs in these studies include primary cell culture, electrophysiology, signal transduction assays, immunoassays, transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM/SEM), various forms of light microscopy, and confocal fluorescence microscopy.
He also collaborates with many other researchers, most recently with Dr. Tim Nelson in investigating anti-herbivore molecules produced by marine macroalgae that contribute to harmful “green tides” in the waters of Puget Sound.
Dr. Ridgway and students in his Freshwater Biology (BIO 4880) course, held at Blakely Island Field Station, were featured in the Autumn 2017 issue of Response.
Selected Publications
Moffett, D.F., R.L. Hudson, S.B. Moffett, and R.L. Ridgway (1982). Intracellular K+ and cell membrane potentials in a K+-transporting epithelium, the midgut of tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta). J. Membrane Biol. 70: 59-68.
Mallatt, J. and R.L. Ridgway (1984). Ultrastructure of a complex epithelium system: the pharyngeal lining of the larval lamprey Petromyzon marinus. J. Morphol. 180:271–296.
Ridgway, R.L. and D.F. Moffett (1986). Regional differences in the histochemical localization of carbonic anhydrase in the midgut of tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta). J. Exp. Zool. 237:407–412.
Moffett, S.B., D.P. Yox, L.B. Kahan, and R.L. Ridgway (1987). Innervation of the anterior and posterior levator muscles of the fifth leg of the crab Carcinus maenas. J. Exp. Biol. 227:229–248.
Ridgway, R.L. (1987). Alcian blue-alcian yellow mapping of neurosecretory cells in the central nervous system of the salt marsh pulmonate snail Melampus bidentatus. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 87A:295–303.
Moffett, S.B. and R.L. Ridgway (1988a). Structural repair and functional recovery following cerebral ganglion removal in the pulmonate snail Melampus. Amer. Zool. 28:1109–1122.
Bulloch, A.G.M. and R.L. Ridgway (1989). Neuronal plasticity in the adult invertebrate nervous system.
J. Neurobiol. 20:295–311.
Ridgway, R.L., N.I. Syed, K. Lukowiak, and A.G.M. Bulloch (1991). Nerve growth factor (NGF) induces sprouting of specific neurons of the snail, Lymnaea stagnalis. J. Neurobiol. 22:377–390.
Ridgway, R.L. and A.G.M. Bulloch (1991). Glutamate modulation of sprouting by adult Helisoma neurons. In: Molluscan Neurobiology (K.S. Kits, H.H. Boer, and J. Joosse, eds.), North Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 154–160.
Berdan, R.C. and R.L. Ridgway (1992). Release of neurite promoting factors into culture medium by Helisoma central ganglia depends on neural activity. Brain Res. 572: 132–138.
Syed, N.I., R.L. Ridgway, K. Lukowiak, and A.G.M. Bulloch (1992). Transplantation functional integration of an identified respiratory interneuron in Lymnaea stagnalis. Neuron 8: 767–774.
Syed, N.I., I. Roger, R.L. Ridgway, L. Bauce, K. Lukowiak, and A.G.M. Bulloch (1993). Identification of an interneuronal network in Helisoma: characterization and in vitro reconstruction of the circuit. J. Exp. Biol. 174:19–44.
Bulloch, A.G.M., N.I. Syed, and R.L. Ridgway (1994). Neurite outgrowth and synapse formation by Lymnaea neurons: towards a characterization of molluscan neurotrophic factors. Neth. J. Zool. 44:317–326.
Bulloch, A.G.M. and R.L. Ridgway (1995). Comparative aspects of gastropod neurobiology. In: The Nervous Systems of Invertebrates ― An Evolutionary and Comparative Approach (O. Briedbach and W. Kutsch, eds.), Birkhauser Verlag, Basel, Switzerland, pp. 89–113.
Ewadinger, N.M., W.K. Stell, T. Magnus, R.L. Ridgway, N.I. Syed, K. Lukowiak, and A.G.M. Bulloch (1996). Identification and localization of a [Met5]-enkephalin-like peptide in the mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis. Brain Res. 737: 1–15.
Peters, B.R., J. Joireman, and R.L. Ridgway (2005). Individual differences in the consideration of future consequences scale correlate with sleep habits, sleep quality, and GPA in university students. Psychological Reports 96: 817–824.
Van Alstyne, K.L., T.A. Nelson, and R.L. Ridgway (2015). Harmful natural products and changes to water chemistry produced by green tide seaweeds and their potential effects on marine organisms. Integrative and Comparative Biology (in preparation).
For additional publications, please contact Dr. Ridgway for his CV.