Professor, Department of Neuroscience

4066A Graves Hall
333 W 10th Ave
Columbus, OH 43210

Research Focus

My research has focused on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) expressed in the nervous system. nAChRs mediate synaptic transmission in many parts of the vertebrate nervous system  as well as at the  neuromuscular junction and are also  present  in many non-neuronal cells  such as in the immune system. Our  studies  have been directed at the molecular biology of transcriptional regulation, receptor regulation, identification and characterization of zebrafish nAChRs and their genes,  developmental effects of nicotine in zebrafish, expression of nAChRs in immune cells, and more recently the development of subtype-specific nAChR allosteric regulators.

Approaches

We have used tissue culture with numerous cell lines, zebrafish embryos, and many molecular biology techniques including PCR, in situ hybridization, transfection, EMSA, promoter mapping and functional analysis of nAChRs.

Education and Training

PhD: University of Texas at Austin
Postdoctoral: University of California, San Diego, Dr. Darwin Berg