Professor Geoffrey Burnstock's major contribution has been in the field of the cellular and comparative physiology of smooth muscle. He developed the 'sucrose gap technique' for electrophysiological recording from smooth muscle. This has become the foremost tool for studies of the effects of drugs and ions at the membrane level. He has investigated the mechanism of action of acetylcholine and adrenaline on smoooth muscle. He and his colleagues have pioneered studies of the autonomic nervous control of single smooth muscle cells and are international leaders in this area. His work concerned with the evolution, development and functional organisation of the vertebrate autonomic nervous system is a unique approach to this field.