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©2006-8 UCDHSC Department of Pharmacology. All rights reserved.
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©2006-8 UCDHSC Department of Pharmacology. All rights reserved.
Structural Studies of Protein-Ligand Interactions in Neuronal Signal Transduction: From Alcohols to Phereomones
The action of small molecules at receptors and other proteins in signalling cascades leads to major changes in behavior. These small molecules act by producing a change in protein structure and dynamics that ultimate leads to changes in nueronal signalling. Our research focuses on two different classes of modulators of neuronal signal transduction, namely alcohols and pheromones. Alcohols act on a variety of receptors and other neuronal proteins, and lead to pharmacological changes that can result in alcohol intoxication and alcohol dependency. We are using structural biology methods such as X-ray crystallography and NMR spectrscopy to identify potential alcohol binding sites in these proteins, with the goal of understanding the mechanism of alcohol's actions.
In insects, such as mosquitoes, small molecules such as pheromones are the cues that trigger asggregation, mating and feeding. We are particular interested in studying the chemical cues that are used by disease vectors, such as the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae, to detect their human hosts. By determining how these molecules interact with the components of the olfactory receptor signalling cascade, we will be able to develop new approaches to intefere with the transmission of these terrible diseases.
Research in my lab uses NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, molecular biology and biophysical approaches to answer the fundamental questions of how mediators of signal transduction ineract with proteins of neuronal signalling pathways.
