Sherry McKee, PhD
Associate Professor, Psychiatry
Director, Yale Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory

Mentee:

Karen Bearss

Dr. Nathanson is chief of the section of digestive diseases and cell biology and director of confocal microscopy for the Center for Cellular and Molecular Imaging. His research centers on the mechanisms and effects of calcium signals in polarized epithelia. The goal of these studies is to determine how the spatial organization of calcium signals regulates organ function, and to examine whether altered calcium signaling patterns are responsible for impairments in tissue regeneration and secretion in certain disease states. He is also examining intercellular communication of second messenger signals and attempting to establish the mechanism by which gap junctions act to in coordinating the intercellular spread of Ca2+ waves in isolated pairs and triplets of cells. The long range goal of these studies is to determine how the spatial organization of Ca2+ signals regulates secretion by epithelia, and to examine whether altered Ca2+ signaling patterns are responsible for impaired secretion in certain disease states.