In the News

  • Peipei Ping is a member of the MPI team of DGSOM investigators who received U54 Award from the NIH’s Bridge to Artificial Intelligence (Bridge 2AI) program. September 2022 (https://www.uclahealth.org/news/Bridge2AI2022)
  • Laura DeNardo’s Lab developed a software tool to automate the detection and classification of rodent behaviors from video data. eLife August 23, 2022
  • Lindsay De Biase and Laura DeNardo published a review on the role of microglia in the development of prefrontal cortex.  Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience August 8, 2022
  • Steve Cannon presented the keynote lecture “Understanding Periodic Paralysis – New Vistas for Disease Modification in a Channelopathy” at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology's 2022 Ion Channel Regulation Conference  August 2022
  • Tamir Gonen won the 2022 A. L. Patterson award from the American Crystallographic Association.  August 2022
  • Laura DeNardo was selected by The Society for Neuroscience as one of the recipients of the Janett Rosenberg Trubatch Career Development Award.  August 2022
  • Laura DeNardo was selected as a fellow for the Scialog: Molecular Basis of Cognition Program.  Research Corporation for Science Advancement August 2022
  • Beibei Wu from the Gwack Lab was selected as an awardee for the 2022 MBI Boyer/Parvin Postdoctoral Awards. July 2022
  • Laura DeNardo received an R01 award from NIHM for her project on Prefrontal Circuits Underlying the Maturation of Learned Avoidance.  July 2022
  • Sara Gutierrez Pelaz from the Khakh Lab was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship from Ramón Areces Foundation (Spain).  Summer 2022
  • Laura DeNardo showed that a preoptic neuronal population controls fever and appetite during sickness.  Nature June 8, 2022
  • Lindsay De Biase’s Lab identified that microglia drive pockets of neuroinflammation in middle age.  Journal of Neuroscience May 11, 2022
  • Megan Chappell from the De Biase lab received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.  April 2022
  • Ken Roos and colleagues published a review on electronic cigarette use and the risk of cardiovascular diseases.  Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine April 7, 2022
  • Ken Roos and colleagues reported on the treatment of wound infections in a mouse model using Zn2+ -releasing phage bound to gold nanorods. ACS Nano March 2022
  • Shimon Weiss received one of two Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prizes in Biophysics Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prizes in Biophysics awards for the year 2022.  March 2022
  • René Packard received a UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSoM) Cardiovascular Theme Seed Grant for his project entitled, “Precision Medicine by Immuno-PET Imaging of Serinc-3 to Diagnose Anthracycline-Induced Cardiotoxicity.” February 2022
  • Laura DeNardo and colleagues report that oxytocin normalizes altered circuit connectivity for social rescue of the Cntnap2 knockout mouse.  Neuron December 2021
  • Tamir Gonen received a new grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to complete structural studies of NaV & neurotoxin interactions.  October 2021
  • Peipei Ping was selected as the winner of US HUPO 2021 Donald F. Hunt Distinguished Contribution in Proteomics Award, March 2021.
  • Sonal Srikanth received a UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSoM) - Broad Stem Cell Research Center (BSCRC) COVID 19 Research Award (RA), January 2021.
  • Lindsay De Biase received 2021 McKnight Brain Research Foundation Innovator Award in Cognitive Aging and Memory Loss.  American Federation for Aging Research January 2021.

Featured Faculty

Ambre Bertholet, Ph.D.

The Department of Physiology welcomes Fayal Abderemane-Ali, Ph.D. as the newest member of our faculty.

Dr. Abderemane-Ali is from Comoros off the east coast of Africa and attended the University of Nantes (France) where he received a bachelor's degree in Cell Biology and Physiology, followed by a PhD in Biophysics and Biochemistry. His interest in the modulation of ion channel function began with graduate studies on voltage sensor interactions with lipid signaling (PIP2) in K channels and extended to Ca2+-dependent modulation of gating.

Dr. Abderemane-Ali's graduate work culminated in a Fulbright Scholarship at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at UCSF that led to a postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Dan Minor. In elegant work to understand how venom-producing animals escape block of their own channels, Dr. Abderemane-Ali discovered a “molecular sponge” that sequesters toxin. His on-going studies are defining the structural interactions between modulators and channels at the atomic level and are leveraging this knowledge in the design of high-throughput screens to identify drugs that selectively block specific channel isoforms to target pathological signaling in pain, arrhythmia, or epilepsy.