The Bowie Lab uses a combination of techniques to study ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs), GABA_A receptors and more recently, Na⁺ channels. All ion-channel families are widespread in the vertebrate brain and fulfill many important roles in healthy individuals as well as being implicated in disease states associated with postnatal development (e.g. autism, schizophrenia), cerebral insult (e.g. stroke, epilepsy) and aging disorders (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, Parkinsonism). Each ion-channel family is studied at two inter-related levels. In structural terms, ion-channel activation mechanisms are examined to provide insight into developing novel therapeutic compounds. At the level of brain circuits, we are studying the role of ion-channels in CNS disease. The talk will focus on recent findings linking deficits in glutamatergic signaling to the neurodevelopmental disorder, Fragile-X syndrome.

参考文献

Dawe GB, Musgaard M, Aurousseau MR, Nayeem N, Green T, Biggin PC, Bowie D (2016) Distinct Structural Pathways Coordinate the Activation of AMPA Receptor-Auxiliary Subunit Complexes. Neuron 89: 1264-1276.
Accardi MV, Daniels BA, Brown PM, Fritschy JM, Tyagarajan SK, Bowie D (2014) Mitochondrial reactive oxygen species regulate the strength of inhibitory GABA-mediated synaptic transmission. Nature Communications 5: 3168.