Education:
PhD 1992 Biomedical Engineering - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
BASc 1986 Engineering Physics - University of Toronto, Canada
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship:
1992-1997 Rockefeller University, New York, New York
1997-1999 Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusettes
Started at USC: 1999
Research Topics: Cellular Neurobiology, Membranes & Transport
Research Description
The goal of my laboratory is to understand how ion channels are targeted to specific subcellular locations in neurons and how electrical activity can modulate that targeting. The physiological properties of a neuron are dependent not only on the properties of ion channels that it expresses, but also on their spatial distributions within that neuron. Little is known about how neurons maintain unique and often complex subcellular patterns of expression for each ion channel. We have adapted the biolistic transfection method, first used in plants, to transfect neurons in a slice preparation that preserves cell morphology and connectivity. Using biolistics we can simultaneously express several different proteins engineered with GFP or with peptide tags and then follow the subcellular localization of those proteins using confocal microscopy. We are examining some of the following questions: What are the specific protein motifs on an ion channel that specify localization at the axon vs. the dendrite, or at sites that are postsynaptic to one input but not to another? How does electrical stimulation of a specific synapse affect ion channel expression at that synapse? What are the molecular motors that mediate transport of ion channels?
Selected Publications
Rivera J, Chu PJ, Lewis TL Jr, Arnold DB. - The role of Kif5B in axonal localization of Kv1 K(+) channels. - Eur J Neurosci [ 2007 ] Jan;25(1):136-146 . PubMed
Chu PJ, Rivera JF, Arnold DB. - A role for Kif17 in transport of Kv4.2. - J Biol Chem [ 2006 ] Jan 6;281(1):365-73 . PubMed
Rivera JF, Chu PJ, Arnold DB. - The T1 domain of Kv1.3 mediates intracellular targeting to axons. - Eur J Neurosci [ 2005 ] Oct;22(8):1853-62 . PubMed
Rivera JF, Ahmad S, Quick MW, Liman ER, Arnold DB. - An evolutionarily conserved dileucine motif in Shal K+ channels mediates dendritic targeting. - Nat Neurosci [ 2003 ] Mar;6(3):243-50 . PubMed
