WHO ARE WE?
We are a group of (budding) scientists who are trying to unlock the secrets of the somatosensory system.
WHAT DO WE WORK ON?
Humans have five basic senses: vision, smell, taste, hearing and somatic sensation. Among these, the somatic sense is the most complex as it includes senses of pain, temperature, touch, gravity and body posture. These sub-modalities within the somatosensory system are processed by distinct somatosensory neurons, as well as separated central neural circuits. Moreover, within each of the sub-modalities, there are many different types of neurons that detect specific features of the mechanical stimuli (velocity, intensity, duration, orientation, etc).
There are three major unsolved questions of the somatosensory system. (1) All somatosensory neurons are generated from common progenitors (neural crest and neural placodal cells). However, how naïve neurons differentiate into sub-modality and sub-type specific sensors is almost completely unknown. (2) Each somatosensory neuron possesses two main axons. One projects to the periphery and forms specialized sensory endings, and the other projects inside the CNS and forms specific synapses for processing the sensory information. How the development of axonal connections coordinates with the cell type (modality) remains a mystery. (3) Information transmitted by subtypes of neurons within each submodality must be integrated to generate a coherent representation of a particular sensory stimulus inside the brain. Yet very little is known about where and how such integrations take place.
The mouse trigeminal sensory system offers a great model to study these unanswered questions at the molecular, cellular and genetic level. Trigeminal sensory neurons transmit all of the somatic sensations from the entire face to the brain. Current projects in our lab focus on three main areas: (1) Positional and modality specification of trigeminal sensory neurons by target derived signals; (2) Molecular mechanisms regulating the assembly of the functional tactile neural circuit by trigeminal neurons; and (3) Cellular pathways underlying axon-axon and axon-target interactions.
Position Available
A postdoctoral position is available to study the development of trigeminal system in our lab. We have ongoing researches in the sensory neuron specification, axon guidance, neuronal morphogenesis, topographic map formation and developmental plasticity. Our lab employs diverse modern techniques and tools including but not limited to: mouse genetics, transcriptome analyses, in vitro primary culture assays, as well as time-lapse imaging. We are seeking an individual who has a background in both neurobiology and molecular biology. If you are interested, please send your electrical curriculum vitae to Dr. Fan Wang (f.wang@cellbio.duke.edu) .
