The means whereby the activities of different cell types are harmonized to provide integrated responses in an organism is the key feature that allows multi-celled organisms to flourish. This coordination is achieved by the activities of a dazzling array of neurotransmitters, hormones and growth factors, which operate on timescales of milliseconds to days. The study of these processes is known as signal transduction, or cellular signaling, which is one of the key areas of biomedical research, because of what it tells us about normal functions and the therapeutic opportunities that it identifies. The department of Pharmacology has built up its strength in cellular signaling over the years to now being one of the most prominent departments in the US in this critical area. Investigators study ion channels, second messengers, growth factor-signaling and the cell cycle.

Primary Faculty

Jason Aoto

Associate Professor
Ph.D., 2009, Univ. of California, Berkeley

We are interested in dissecting the distinct functions of synaptic cell-adhesion molecules implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders and addiction in the context of disease-relevant brain circuits. Using cutting-edge multidisciplinary techniques, we are able to interrogate these molecules with cell-type and synapse-specific resolution.​

K. Ulrich Bayer

Professor
Ph.D., 1996, Heinrich-Pette-I​nstitute

Molecular mechanisms of bi-directional synaptic plasticity that underlie cognition. Strategies for restoring normal synaptic plasticity in neurological disorders.

M. Cecilia Caino

Associate Professor

Ph.D., 2010, Universidad de Buenos Aires

Our group aims to understand how mitochondria reprogramming in tumors impact cellular behaviors that drive progressive and lethal cancer.  We use a broad repertoire of biochemistry, cell biology, live cell imaging and animal models to study the impact of mitochondria shape, number and subcellular distribution in metastatic dissemination.

Mair E.A. Churchill

Professor
Ph.D., 1987, Johns Hopkins Univ.

Structure and mechanism in gene regulation; biophysical and structural studies of protein-nucleic acid and protein-protein complexes in chromatin.

Mark L. Dell'Acqua

Professor and Vice Chairman
Ph.D., 1995, Harvard Univ.

Organization of signaling complexes by protein kinase and phosphatase anchoring proteins; mechanisms regulating neuronal second messenger signaling in synaptic plasticity.

Tatiana G. Kutateladze

Professor
Ph.D., 1988, Moscow State Univ.

Epigenetics, phosphoinositide signaling, structural biology, NMR and crystal structures of proteins implicated in cancer, structure based drug design.

Justin O'Hare, PhD

Assistant Professor
Ph.D. 2017, Duke University

We study how individual neurons contribute to memory formation and storage. Using pyramidal neurons in mouse hippocampal area CA1 as a model system, we leverage molecular and systems neuroscience approaches to understand (1) how a neuron’s dendrites integrate synaptic inputs from multiple brain circuits and (2) how this information is lastingly stored to form new place fields.

Katharine R. Smith​

Associate Professor
Ph.D., 2010, University College London​​​

Molecular mechanisms of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic plasticity.

Chandra L. Tucker

Professor
Ph.D., 1999, Univ. of Washington

Study and manipulatio​​n of protein homeostasis and signaling pathways in live cells, optogenetic tools for controlling protein interactions, synthetic biology, cytosolic protein misfolding, yeast genetics/genomics

Secondary Faculty

J. David Port

Professor
Ph.D., 1989, Univ. of Utah

G-protein linked receptors and their regulation; regulation of mRNA stability.