Contact Information
524 Burrill Hall
407 S. Goodwin Ave
Urbana, IL 61801
Research Areas
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., & Grosman, C. (2022). Probing function in ligand-gated ion channels without measuring ion transport. Journal of General Physiology, 154(6). 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), [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), [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), [1374]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21680-9
Kumar, P., Wang, Y., Zhang, Z., Zhao, Z., Cymes, G. D., Tajkhorshid, E., & Grosman, C. (2020). Cryo-EM structures of a lipid-sensitive pentameric ligand-gated ion channel embedded in a phosphatidylcholine-only bilayer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(3), 1788-1798. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1906823117