Postdoc position

[Linda Hall]

Ion Channels/Developmental Neurobiology

Postdoctoral position available to work on mutants affecting calcium or
sodium channels in Drosophila.  

Calcium Channel Studies:  We have cloned, sequenced and analyzed expression
patterns for several different subunits of voltage-sensitive
calcium channels in Drosophila.  For one subunit subtype we have 
identified mutants which cause embryonic lethality and have rescued
the lethality with a cosmid clone.  This subunit shows a variety of 
alternative splice forms which are expressed differentially in 
development and which are likely to exhibit different functional
properties.  We would now like to use transformation rescue of 
various cDNAs under the control of heat shock and endogenous
promoters to define the role of the various splice forms in calcium 
channel function in development.  This will be done in collaboration
with others in the lab who are using baculovirus and Xenopus 
expression systems to study the functional characteristics of the cloned
subunits.  This work has recently received a Merit Award from 
the National Insitutes of Heart, Lung, and Blood and will be funded
for 10 years.

Sodium Channel Studies:  This work began with temperature sensitive
paralytic mutants that affect sodium channel properties (tip-E and
seizure).  The tip-E gene has been cloned by chromosome walking and
verified by transformation rescue.  It encodes a novel membrane protein
required during development in order to have normal adult nervous system
function.  Future work will involve analysis of protein expression
patterns, expression studies aimed at further defining tip-E function, and
characterization of vertebrate homologues of the tip-E protein.  Work in
progress with the seizure locus has identified putative transcripts of this
locus.  Future work will involve characterization of the seizure gene
product and defining its role in neuronal function.  This work is funded by
a Jacob Javits Award from the National Insitutes of Neurological Diseases
and Stroke.

For further information contact:
        Dr. Linda M. Hall
        Department of Biochemical Pharmacology
        SUNY at Buffalo, 329 Hochstetter Hall
        Buffalo, NY 14260
        Phone:  716-645-2834
        Fax:  716-645-3850
        email:  camlhall at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu