Researcher biography

My major research interests concern the development of functional mechanisms of activation and drug-induced modulation of the GABA-A and glycine receptors, which are the main mediators of inhibitory neurotransmission in the nervous system. I am primarily interested in how ligands bind to, activate and modulate the activity of these receptors and also interested in how naturally occurring mutations to these receptors give rise to major neurological disorders, such as anxiety and epilepsy.

I am an expert at recording single channel and synaptic currents and extracting key functional parameters of the receptors, such as drug affinities and activation rates. The experimental techniques that are available in my lab include, conventional patch-clamp and voltage-clamp electorphysiology, voltage-clamp fluorometry, molecular biology and high throughput fluorescence-based drug screening.