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We study how the brain monitors body hydration, salt and temperature. We seek to define how networks of thermosensitive and osmosensitive neurons work together with clock neurons and astrocytes to regulate thirst, release of antidiuretic hormone (vasopressin), and vascular tone. Defects in osmoregulation are hallmarks of many clinical conditions, including dehydration, heart failure, MDMA toxicity and traumatic brain injury. Moreover changes in osmoregulation likely link dietary salt intake to many forms of hypertension. Some topics we study:
Mechanisms of sodium detection, thermosensation and osmoreception
Glial plasticity
and neuronal signaling
Clock neurons & circadian rhythms
Control of burst firing
Local signaling in dendrites
TRPV1 and TRPV4 ion channels
Cytoskeleton and mechanosensation
Osmoregulatory circuits in health and disease
Keywords: neuroscience, electrophysiology, pharmacology, biophysics, patch-clamp, optogenetics, synaptic transmission, synapse, glia, glial cells, gliotransmission, taurine, glycine, glycine receptor, volume regulated anion channel, neuron, vasopressin, oxytocin, neurohypophysis, pituitary, endocrinology, neuroendocrinology, cytoskeleton, actin, microtubules, mechanotransduction, mechanosensitivity, osmolality, osmotic, osmosensing, osmosensory, osmoreceptor, NMDA, GABA osmoreception, osmoregulation, peptide, neuropeptide, thirst, diuresis, natriuresis, salt appetite, salt sensing, sodium sensing, transient receptor potential, TRP, TRPV, trpv1, trpv2, trpv3, trpv4, trpa1, vanilloid, burst, bursting, rhythms, phasic, depolarizing after-potential, plateau, dendrite, dendritic, autocrine, neurosecretion, nerve terminal, axon terminal, action potential, graduate studies, postdoctoral studies, postdoc, imaging, calcium, calcium channel, calcium imaging, single channel, dehydration, hyponatremia, hypernatremia, hypertension, diabetes insipidus, circadian rhythms.
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