Research

 

Major research areas in the current membership of the Institute for Integrative Physiology falls into 3 major categories.

Cardio-Respiratory Physiology

Section Head

  • Gökhan M. Mutlu, M.D.

Major Research Area:

  • Catecholamine secretion
  • Nicotinic cholinergic receptors
  • Pain & nociception
  • Respiratory physiology

Members

  • Nickolai Dulin, Ph.D.
  • Yun Fang, Ph.D.
  • Aaron Fox, Ph.D.
  • Robert Hamanaka, Ph.D.
  • Peggy Mason, Ph.D.
  • Daniel McGehee, Ph.D.
  • Willard Sharp, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Julian Solway, M.D.
  • Esra Tasali, M.D.
  • Robert Guzy, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Francis Alenghat, M.D., Ph.D.

Major Research & Training Programs:

  • CTSA, a major program at the Pritzker School of Medicine (PI: Dr. Julian Solway)
  • Institutional training program (T32) entitled “Training in Pulmonary Physiology
  • Medicine” (PI: Dr. Julian Solway)
  • Institutional training program (T32) Entitled “Training in Neurobiology” (PI: Dr. Daniel
  • McGehee)

Membrane Physiology

Section Head:

  • Francisco Bezanilla, Ph.D.

Major Research Area:

  • Structure and conformational dynamics or ion channels and transporters
  • Mechanistic basis of voltage sensing in excitable systems
  • Modulation of ion channel behavior by protein modification
  • Molecular basis of gating the K+ channel selectivity filter
  • Structural basis of ion channel modulation by O2 & reactive oxygen species
  • Gating and selectivity in Na+ channels

Members

  • Benoît Roux, Ph.D.
  • William N. Green, Ph.D.
  • Dorothy A. Hanck, Ph.D.
  • Deborah J. Nelson, Ph.D.
  • Eduardo Perozo, Ph.D.

Major Research & Training Programs:

The Membrane Protein Structural Dynamic Consortium” (NIGMS), 23 Pis, 14 participating institutions in 4 countries (PI: Dr. Eduardo Perozo)

O2 Physiology

Section Head:

  • Nanduri R. Prabhakar, Ph.D., D.Sc.

Major Research Area:

  • Mechanisms of O2 sensing
  • Gaso transmitters in O2 sensing
  • Hypoxia and neurotransmitter metabolism
  • Reactive oxygen species and hypoxia
  • Intermittent hypoxia and sleep-disordered breathing
  • Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) in physiology & pathology
  • Ca2+ and K+ channels & hypoxia
  • Epigenetic regulation by neonatal hypoxia-inducible
  • Autonomic consequences of intermittent hypoxia

Members

  • Nanduri R. Prabhakar, Ph.D., D.Sc.
  • Alfredo Garcia, Ph.D.
  • Lucy Ann Godley, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Jayasri Nanduri, Ph.D.
  • Ying-Ji Peng, Ph.D.
  • Xiaoyu Su, Ph.D.

Major Research & Training Programs:

Program Project Grant (PO1-HL-090554) “Integrative Consequences of Hypoxia” (P.I.

Nanduri R. Prabhakar)