Research

    My research is concerned with the molecular mechanisms of signal transduction and its modulation in sensory receptor cells. The techniques we use include electrophysiology (e.g. patch-clamp recording, current recording using a suction pipette, etc.), computer simulations, immunocytochemistry, and cell imaging.
    We are currently working on olfactory transduction, taste transduction, and phototransduction. 1) Olfactory transduction: We use isolated olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) from the newt to study molecular mechanisms of inhibitory responses induced by odorant and the physiological significance of the phenomenon. We record and analyze membrane currents activated by various odorants and/or cAMP, the intracellular messenger. We are also studying amino acid responses of ORNs. 2) Taste transduction: We use isolated taste receptors from the frog and other animals. We study signal transduction mechanism and its modulation of taste receptor cells to find ort the difference between cells with different modalities, sour, salty, sweet, bitter and umami. 3) Phototransduction: We use photoreceptors of knock-in mice to study underlying mechanisms that cause the difference in sensitivity and kinetics between rods and cones.


Schemes of sensory transduction

1.  Phototransduction
2.  Olfactory transduction