J McIntosh
University of Utah, UT·Pharmacology
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are channels in cell membranes that open when they bind the signaling molecule acetylcholine. They help control the release of chemical messengers in the brain and are involved in addiction.
- Fields
Pharmacology
Neuroscience
Biochemistry
- Topics
nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
nAChR
ligand-gated ion channels
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2030
What they work on
- Build a library of selective probes for nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes that lack them, by mining cone snail venom peptides and refining them through structure-activity relationship studies.
- Use existing nAChR-targeting ligands as tools to uncover how these receptor channels are built, how they function and how they are regulated.
- Determine which nAChR subtypes drive neuropathic pain, using selective peptide probes, to find ways of preventing pain rather than masking it.
More about the research
Outside the brain, they also take part in nerve pain, inflammation, tumor formation and stress-related disease. There are many nAChR subtypes, and several lack any molecule that targets them selectively. That makes it hard to work out what each subtype does.
Why it matters
People with chronic neuropathic pain have few good options besides opioids. Selective cone-snail peptides that act on specific nicotinic receptors could point to non-opioid ways to prevent pain from developing. Because nAChRs act in many organs, these probes could also aid research and drug development for addiction, inflammation and cancer.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Mahmoud Ahmed
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, TX·Pharmacology
Develop new small-molecule inhibitors of the EphB1/2 tyrosine kinases, nerve-signaling enzymes, that are unrelated to tetracyclines, and define the structure–activity features needed for potent inhibition.
Seok-Yong Lee
Duke University, NC·Biophysics
Determine how the echinocandin caspofungin blocks the fungal cell-wall enzyme β-1,3-D-glucan synthase (GS) and how Fks1 mutations cause resistance, using cryo-EM structures, enzyme assays and computational methods.
Naoto Hoshi
University of California-Irvine, CA·Pharmacology
Identify potent compounds that stabilize the binding of Kv7 potassium channels to PIP2, a membrane lipid the channel needs, using a newly developed in silico (computer-based) screening process.
The school
University of Utah: 58 labs on PI Pages, $789M a year on research, 366 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.