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  • 20241104-1
  • Lectures
  • Institute of Biomedical Sciences
  • Location

    B1B Lecture Room, IBMS

  • Speaker Name

    Dr. Gary Richard Lewin (Charite Universitätsmedizin, Berlin)

  • State

    Definitive

  • Url

Biomedical lessons from an extremophile mammal: the naked mole-rat

2024-11-04 11:00 - 12:00

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I am a neuroscientist with broad interests in sensory physiology, pain mechanisms, and the molecular basis of extreme physiology, the latter using the naked mole-rat as a non-model organism. My undergraduate training was in Physiology and Pharmacology. I did my doctoral studies in neuroscience with an emphasis on plasticity and regeneration of the peripheral nervous system. During my first post-doctoral period, and as a research assistant professor, I discovered a critical role for nerve growth factor in pain sensitization which became the basis for novel analgesic therapies. As an Alexander von Humboldt fellow working at the Max Planck Institute in Munich I acquired molecular biology and mouse genetics expertise and used this to study the role of neurotrophins in the phenotypic specification of sensory neurons. In 1996 I started my own group at the Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and early on decided to start a new research program to decipher the molecular basis of sensory mechanotransduction. For the last 28 years I have been leading a highly interdisciplinary research program focused on three broad areas. First, the core of my laboratory is engaged in discovering the molecules and ion channels that are required for sensory transduction that underpin the sensation of touch and pain. We were the first laboratory to discover a key component of touch transduction in 2007, the MEC2-related protein STOML3. Our second research focus has been on drug development, starting with the development of novel small molecules to inhibit the function of sensory mechanotransduction molecules like STOML3. This drug discovery program is currently being expanded to novel ion channels (e.g. ELKIN1) and tether candidates (e.g. TENM4). The third focus of the lab is to exploit the molecular basis of extreme physiology in the naked mole-rat. An example is the remarkable fact that naked mole-rats can survive extreme hypoxia without cardiac or brain damage. We are examining the involvement of novel molecular players, e.g. in the mitochondria that may be critical for this process. I have consistently obtained considerable third-party funding for our research programs including three senior ERC awards. I am proud to have mentored many junior scientists of whom 10 have gone on to lead their own research groups.

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