Adriano Senatore

Campus

UTM

CSB Appointment

Full

Research Areas

Animal Biology, Bioinformatics / Computational Biology, Cell Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Genetics / Genomics, Molecular Biology, Neurobiology

Education

Ph.D. University of Waterloo 2012
M.Sc. University of Guelph 2006

Primary Undergraduate Department

Biology, UTM

Graduate Programs

Cell & Systems Biology

Research Description

Ion channels and neurotransmitter receptors are complex and dynamic proteins that are crucial for neural and synaptic signaling, and their dysfunction is associated with an array of human diseases.

Much of what we know about the function of these genes comes from work done in select organisms including rodents, fruit flies, nematode worms and bacteria. However, we know little about how and when their molecular attributes came to be, and how they compare broadly among distantly related animals. Such an understanding is important as it can delineate some of their core molecular features, as well as guide interpretations about what can and cannot be inferred across model organisms.

In the Senatore lab, we explore the functional, physiological and evolutionary properties of:

1. Voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels, responsible for neurotransmitter release and muscle contraction.
2. Neuropeptide and proton-gated Na⁺ channels (i.e. DEG/ENaC channels), involved in pain signaling, learning and memory, and synaptic transmission.
3. Ionotropic glutamate receptor homologues of NMDA, AMPA and Kainite receptors, the major drivers of excitatory synaptic transmission in the brain.
4. The sodium leak channel NALCN, involved in circadian rhythm, neural excitability, and sensitivity to anesthetics.

A central subject for us is the fascinating early-diverging animal Trichoplax adhaerens, which lacks neurons and synapses but bears most genes required for neural/synaptic signaling. Interestingly, despite these absences, we and others have shown that Trichoplax can coordinate its various cell types for locomotive behavior such as social feeding, chemotaxis and phototaxis.

Researchers in the lab integrate a broad range of techniques including behavioral analysis, microscopy, molecular biology, electrophysiology, cell culture, protein biochemistry, genomics/transcriptomics and bioinformatics.