Description:

Please join the Department of Pharmacology for a Works-in-Progress presentation by Matthew Arvin and Valerie Tokars, Ph.D.

Matthew Arvin
Graduate Student, Dr. Ryan Drenan's Laboratory

“Utilization of Photoactivatable Nicotine for Interrogation of the Subcellular Expression Patterns of nAChRs in the Medial Habenula”

Chronic nicotine abuse contributes to several disease states (lung cancer, emphysema, hypertension, etc) that account for more than 6 million human deaths per year. Unfortunately, relapse rates are high in smoking cessation and are worsened by the somatic and affective symptoms of withdrawal, despite current pharmacological treatment strategies. Nicotine’s effect on withdrawal is likely mediated by Nicotinic Acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the medial habenula (MHb) to interpeduncular nucleus (IPN) brain circuit. However, the expression and functional role of nAChRs in the MHb-IPN circuit remains unclear due to the large diversity of subunits and a lack of knowledge regarding the subcellular expression pattern of nAChRs in these neurons. Current experimental methods are limited in their ability to determine the expression pattern of nAChRs with a subcellular resolution. Therefore, we have developed and characterized the “uncaging” of a photoactivatable nicotine (PA-Nic) molecule that ameliorates technical limitations of current experimental methods. We show PA-Nic to be useful for the study of nAChRs in a variety of uncaging paradigms (restricted field epi-illumination, 1 photon, and 2 photon excitation) over a wide range of time scales.

Valerie Tokars, Ph.D. 
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology
Operations Director, Structural Biology Facility

“Structural Biology Resources for Basic and Translational Work: Addressing Future Needs”

The Structural Biology Facility is a full service resource for investigators interested in high resolution structural information including: a) crystallographic data collection, structure determination, refinement, and analysis b) cryoelectron microscopy (cryoEM) data collection, structure determination, including single particle reconstruction and tomography c) molecular graphics and computational support for all aspects of structural biology investigations. It is a unique resource at Northwestern University that capitalizes on frequent access to the synchrotron radiation X-ray source at Argonne National Laboratory, access to state-of-the-art electron microscopes at Northwestern, and highly experienced personnel that can not only help users, but provide full structure determination services. For researchers studying the relationship between macromolecular structure and function or using macromolecular structure as the starting point for structure-based drug design, the facility provides a resource for advancing new discoveries.