About Our Work

We use genetics paired with behavioral assays to identify proteins responsible for sensory transduction, including DEG/ENaC sodium and TRP channels and components of the cytoskeleton and plasma membrane. Several of the molecules we have placed into sensory pathways have evolutionarily conserved roles and known links to human disease.

Mechanical forces stretch neurons and affect neuronal signaling, particularly in touch receptor neurons and proprioceptors. We have developed a genetically-encoded molecular strain sensor to study the interplay between strain in the cytoskeleton and mechanosensitive channel gating. 

In collaboration with the Stanford Microsystems Laboratory, we build devices that measure interaction forces and body mechanics during normal behavior, and use these to develop predictive models of sensorimotor programs.

We explore the cellular roles of putative transduction complex proteins by in vivo whole-cell patch clamp recording of sensory neurons, and uncover structure-function relationships in channel physiology using single channel recordings of wild type and mutant channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes.

We explore the cellular roles of putative transduction complex proteins by in vivo whole-cell patch clamp recording of sensory neurons, and uncover structure-function relationships in channel physiology using single channel recordings of wild type and mutant channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes.