Faculty

Professor of Pharmacology and Chemistry & Biochemistry

Ph.D., University of Cambridge

http://www.tsienlab.ucsd.edu/

Key Words: Signal Transduction; Calcium; Neurobiology; 

Regulation and role of messengers such as calcium, cyclic AMP, and nitric oxide.

Engineering and use of new molecules to measure and perturb these messengers. Cellular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, especially in cerebellum.  Stimulus- transcription coupling via cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Mechanism of Ca²⁺ influx stimulated by emptying of endoplasmic reticulum stores. Structure-function relationships in Green Fluorescent Protein, and its application to monitor protein-protein interactions by fluorescence resonance energy transfer.

Selected Publications:

Zlokarnik, G., Negulescu, P.A., Knapp, T.E., Mere, L., Burres, N., Feng, L., Whitney, M., Roemer, K., and Tsien, R.Y. 1998. Quantitation of transcription and clonal selection of single living cells using beta-lactamase as reporter. Science 279: 84-88.

Li, W., Llopis, J., Whitney, M., Zlokarnik, G., and Tsien, R.Y. 1998. Cell-permeant caged InsP₃ ester shows that Ca²⁺ spike frequency can optimize gene expression. Nature 392: 936-941.

Griffin, B.A., Adams, S.R., and Tsien, R.Y. 1998. Specific covalent labeling of recombinant protein molecules inside live cells. Science 281: 269-272.

Miyawaki, A., Griesbeck, O., Heim, R., and Tsien, R.Y. 1999. Dynamic and quantitative Ca²⁺ measurements using improved cameleons. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 2135-2140.

Yao, Y., Ferrer-Montiel, A.V., Montal, M., and Tsien, R.Y. 1999. Activation of store-operated Ca²⁺ current in xenopus oocytes requires SNAP-25 but not a diffusible messenger. Cell, in press, August 20.