Pharmacology Faculty

Jonathan S. Marchant, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology & Director of Graduate Studies

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Publications

Research Interests

Many things cells do are regulated by changes in cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ - actually, it's hard to think of cellular functions that aren't somehow regulated by Ca²⁺ somewhere along a particular functional pathway. To achieve specificity in regulating the many Ca²⁺-sensitive proteins inside a cell, a variety of mechanisms of coordinating cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ signals with the control of specific processes have evolved. One such mechanism involves localizing the generation of cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ signals to small regions of the cell (a few µm³), where they influence only the behavior of proteins localized within the same area. Such spatial targeting of 'local' Ca²⁺ signals allows many processes within the cell to be regulated independently, yet efficiently. However, many questions are immediately raised as to the cell biological 'nuts and bolts' of how such Ca²⁺ signalling microdomains are assembled, how they are regulated and how they function.

Our laboratory is involved in the application and development of biophotonic techniques (cellular imaging and manipulation methods using microscopy) to address such questions about the generation and function of local and whole-cell Ca²⁺ signals. A particular focus is the study of the spatial and temporal dynamics of Ca²⁺ signals generated by the second messenger inositol 1,4,5 trisphosphate (IP₃). A fuller description of our laboratory's current research interests can be found on our lab home page.