My primary research interest is in elucidating the role of vanilloid receptors (TRPV) in the mediation of pain perception in the dorsal horn of mammals. Recently, this line of research has expanded to include the study of nociception in animal models of cystitis and arthritis. Other interests include amino acid neurotransmitters, their receptors and associated proteins in the postsynaptic densities in the brain and spinal cord, nitric oxide, and the functional role of the protein palladin in reactive astrocytes and glial scar formation after injury to the central nervous system.
We study mechanisms of cancer using cutting edge technologies - genetically engineered mice, microscopy, genomics, cell culture and more. We have developed many models cancer and have made major contributions on the functions of p53, pRb and PTEN.
We are interested in understanding how autoreactive B cells become re-activated to secrete autoantibodies that lead to autoimmune disease. Our research is focused on understanding how signal transduction through the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) and Toll Like Receptors (TLR) lead to secretion of autoantibodies in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).
"Our lab uses computational and molecular tools to study the evolution of genome organization, primarily in the flowering plants. Areas of
investigation include the origin and consequences of differences in gene order within populations and between species, the evolutionary and functional diversification of gene families (phytome.org), and the application of genomics to evolutionary model organisms (mimulusevolution.org). We also are involved in a number of cyberinfrastructure initiatives through the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (nescent.org), including work on digital scientific libraries(datadryad.org), open bioinformatic software development (e.g. gmod.org) and the application of semantic web technologies to biological data integration(phenoscape.org)."
