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2016 Council Elections
NOMINEES FOR COUNCILOR (2 POSITIONS AVAILABLE) Alessio Accardi Bio: Alessio Accardi graduated in Physics from the University of Rome I “La Sapienza” and received his PhD in Biophysics from the University of Genoa. He carried out his PhD thesis work in Michael Pusch’s group in the CNR studying the structure and function of the CLC-type Cl- channels. He was awarded the “Antonio Borsellino” prize by the Italian Society for Pure and Applied Biophysics in 2002 for his thesis work. He then joined the lab of Chris Miller at Brandeis University, where he discovered that the CLC family is comprised of Cl-/H+ exchangers in addition to the well-known Cl- channels. He started his independent career at the University of Iowa and in 2010 moved to Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. Alessio’s current research focuses on two families of membrane transport proteins with evolutionarily divergent functions: the CLC channels and transporters and the TMEM16 Ca2+-gated ion channels and phospholipid scramblases. While the TMEM16s were originally described as Ca2+-activated Cl- channels, Alessio’s group unexpectedly found that some family members also allow the transbilayer movement of lipids between membrane leaflets, a process known as phospholipid scrambling. This finding raised the fascinating question of how a single protein scaffold can mediate the parallel transport of substrates as diverse as ions and lipids. Andrea Meredith Bio: Andrea Meredith obtained her PhD in Neuroscience from UT Southwestern Medical Center and did postdoctoral studies with Rick Aldrich at Stanford, generating a mouse knockout of BK, ‘The King’ of ion channels. In 2006, she moved to the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore to start her own lab, where she is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology. Their research focuses on the physiological roles for BK channels in brain, smooth muscle, and heart, and the molecular mechanisms that distinguish BK’s distinct influences on excitability across tissues. They combine the generation of transgenic mice, patch-clamp electrophysiology, long-term multi-electrode array recordings, and telemetry to track activity at the membrane, cellular, circuit/organ, and whole animal levels. Their recent studies have focused on the brain’s circadian clock, where daily regulation of BK channel inactivation plays a unique role in the circadian patterning of excitability and behavioral rhythmicity. Andy has been involved in SGP for several years by serving on council, organizing the SGP-JGP mixer in Baltimore (2015) and the upcoming 70th Annual SGP Symposium (2016). Murali Prakriya Bio: Murali Prakriya's research examines the mechanisms and functions of store-operated calcium channels (SOCs). SOCs are expressed in most animal cells and regulate diverse cellular functions ranging from gene expression, immune cell activation, and cell migration. Current efforts in her laboratory are focused on examining the mechanisms of channel gating of SOCs and the physiological roles of these channels in mammalian cells, with particular emphasis on the nervous system. They use a multifaceted approach that combines a range of approaches including electrophysiology, single-cell microscopy (FRET, confocal, TIRF), biochemistry, and genetically modified mice for our studies. Murali received my training in the laboratories of Dr. Chris Lingle, Washington University (graduate education) and Richard Lewis, Stanford University (postdoc). Brad Rothberg Bio: Brad Rothberg received his BS in Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh and his PhD (also in Neuroscience) in 1994 at the University of Florida College of Medicine, studying synaptic transmission and plasticity in the hippocampus. Brad then did postdoctoral training in the field of ion channel biophysics with Karl Magleby at the University of Miami and Gary Yellen at Harvard Medical School, and in 2002 joined the faculty in the Department of Physiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. In 2008, Brad returned to his hometown of Philadelphia to join the Department of Medical Genetics & Molecular Biochemistry at the Temple University School of Medicine. The research in Brad’s laboratory is focused on the structural dynamics of calcium-activated potassium channels, and his approach involves a combination of biophysical methods, including patch-clamp electrophysiology and X-ray crystallography. Brad currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Biochemical Journal, and the Journal of General Physiology, and has previously served on the Council of the SGP from 2008-2014. NOMINEES FOR POSTDOCTORAL COUNCILLOR (1 POSITION AVAILABLE) Manu Ben Johny Bio: Manu Ben Johny Manu Ben Johny obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University following his undergraduate education at Saint Louis University in Biomedical Engineering and Mathematics. At Hopkins, he was enamored by the allure for quantitative understanding of biological phenomenon and joined the laboratory of David T. Yue. For his dissertation, he worked to unveil the mechanistic underpinnings of a long-shared feedback regulation that tunes the activity of voltage gated calcium and sodium channels to fluctuations in cytosolic calcium ions. For this work, he was awarded the Peter C. Maloney Graduate Student Award and the David T. Yue Research Award. He continues to ponder about the eerie resemblance of both Ca and Na channels and their longtime modulatory partner calmodulin at the Calcium Signals Laboratory. He is also developing novel methods and exploring new frontiers in the regulation of ion channel function by various auxiliary molecules with guidance of Gordon F. Tomaselli. It would be a tremendous honor to serve the Society of General Physiology - to preserve its rich history in mechanistic research and to convey the passion for quantitative biological sciences. Gilbert Martinez Bio: Gilbert Martinezreceived his B.S. degree in Physics from the University of Washington and his PhD in Biophysics from Stanford University. At Stanford, he received the BioMASS (BioMedically Affiliated Stanford Students) award for service to the graduate student community and was chosen to be the graduate student commencement speaker for the School of Medicine. After receiving his PhD, he spent several years in the lab of William Catterall in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Washington working on calcium channel regulation of synaptic plasticity as well as the structural biology of bacterial sodium channels and an engineered bacterial calcium selective channel. He then joined the lab of Sharona Gordon in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at UW where he uses spectroscopic techniques to study the activation mechanisms of TRP channels. He is a frequent speaker at a local high school where he engages prospective first generation college students from low income backgrounds and encourages them to consider pursuing careers in STEM. He is also a member of the UW Postdoc Advisory Board. Click here to cast your vote! The last day to vote is July 24th.
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