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Claudio F Grosman

Profile picture for Claudio F Grosman

Contact Information

Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology
524 Burrill Hall
407 S. Goodwin Ave
Urbana, IL 61801

Professor and Head, Molecular and Integrative Physiology
Research: Molecular Mechanisms of Neurotransmitter-Gated Ion Channels

Research Interests

Research Topics

Ion Channels, Membrane Biology, Neurobiology, Protein Dynamics, Protein Structure, Receptor Biochemistry

Disease Research Interests

Neurological and Behavioral Disorders

Research Description

Molecular Mechanisms of Neurotransmitter-gated Ion Channels

My laboratory is broadly interested in the relationship between structure and function in neurotransmitter-gated ion channels, with special emphasis on the superfamily of nicotinic receptors. Our main tools are single-channel and ensemble electrophysiology, and protein-engineering techniques.

Some of the particular issues we have been working on lately are:

  • Quantitative characterization of fundamental properties of neurotransmitter-gated ion channels such as rate and equilibrium constants of ligand binding in the closed and open states.
  • Quantitative understanding of the different phenomena that contribute to the kinetics of the postsynaptic current decay under physiological and pathological conditions.
  • Linear free-energy relationships and the chemical dynamics of the closed-to-open conformational change.
  • Relationship between structure and electrostatics of the pore domain.

Education

B.S./M.Sc. 1991 University of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Ph.D. 1996 University of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Postdoc. 1997-2002 State University of New York at Buffalo

Awards and Honors

2015 Faculty Excellence Award
2014 Richard and Margaret Romano Professorial Scholar
2012 Outstanding Advisor Medical Scholars Program
2012 James E. Heath Award for Excellence in Teaching Physiology

Additional Campus Affiliations

Head, Molecular and Integrative Physiology
Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology

Recent Publications

Godellas, N. E., Cymes, G. D., & Grosman, C. (2022). An experimental test of the nicotinic hypothesis of COVID-19. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(44), Article e2204242119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2204242119

Godellas, N. E., & Grosman, C. (2022). Probing function in ligand-gated ion channels without measuring ion transport. Journal of General Physiology, 154(6), Article e202213082. https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.202213082

Cymes, G. D., & Grosman, C. (2021). Signal transduction through Cys-loop receptors is mediated by the nonspecific bumping of closely apposed domains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(14), Article e2021016118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021016118

Kumar, P., Cymes, G. D., & Grosman, C. (2021). Structure and function at the lipid-protein interface of a pentameric ligand-gated ion channel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(23), Article e2100164118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2100164118

Sethuramanujam, S., Matsumoto, A., deRosenroll, G., Murphy-Baum, B., Grosman, C. F., McIntosh, J. M., Jing, M., Li, Y., Berson, D., Yonehara, K., & Awatramani, G. B. (2021). Rapid multi-directed cholinergic transmission in the central nervous system. Nature communications, 12(1), Article 1374. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21680-9

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