Aliza Ehrlich
Virginia Commonwealth University, VA·Neuroscience
Opioid drugs relieve pain by acting on the mu opioid receptor (MOR), but the same receptor drives tolerance, addiction, and the dangerous slowing of breathing behind overdose deaths. MOR belongs to the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a large family of cell-surface sensors that can send different messages depending on where in the cell they sit.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Pharmacology
Biochemistry
- Topics
mu opioid receptor
opioids
primary cilia
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2031
What they work on
- Determine how agonist-induced desensitization, internalization and phosphorylation regulate the mu opioid receptor (MOR) at the neuronal primary cilium, the cell's antenna-like projection.
- Define the role of the receptor recycling pathway in targeting MOR to cilia, and identify its partner proteins there using proximity labeling proteomics, which tags proteins sitting next to a target.
- Assess the functional consequences of MOR signaling at cilia using biosensors, engineered reporters of signaling activity, together with ex vivo electrophysiological recordings from neurons.
More about the research
Neurons carry a primary cilium, a small antenna-like projection from the cell body, and whether MOR signals from this structure has never been studied. This project aims to work out how MOR reaches the cilium, how it is regulated there, and what it does once it arrives.
Why it matters
Opioids remain essential pain medicines but carry high risks of addiction and fatal overdose. Mapping how mu opioid receptors are regulated and what they do at one specific location in neurons, the primary cilium, may show how a receptor's address shapes its effects, which could eventually inform strategies to separate pain relief from harmful opioid side effects.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Thomas Keck
Rowan University, NJ·Pharmacology
Test whether combining morphine with MP-III-024, a compound that enhances α2/α3 GABA-A receptor signaling, gives stronger pain relief without more tolerance, constipation or respiratory depression in preclinical models.
Madepalli Lakshmana
Florida International University, FL·Neuroscience
Synthesize six sets of structurally varied TPI-132 analogs and select two with stronger activation of TFEB, a master switch for cellular recycling, plus lower toxicity and better brain penetration and solubility.
Lan Zhu
Medical College of Wisconsin, WI·Biophysics
Determine the structures of non-Class B GPCRs bound to receptor activity-modifying proteins (RAMPs) using cryo-EM, crystallography, and molecular dynamics, to learn how RAMPs control surface localization and ligand recognition.
The school
Virginia Commonwealth University: 19 labs on PI Pages, $524M a year on research, 438 research doctorates a year.
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