grosman@life.illinois.edu
452 Burrill Hall
Office: (217) 244-1736
Lab: (217) 333-1405
Fax: (217) 333-1133
Mail to: Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology
524 Burrill Hall
407 S. Goodwin Ave
Urbana, IL 61801
Claudio Grosman
Associate Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology
Associate Professor of Biophysics
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Research Topics
Ion Channels, Membrane Biology, Neurobiology, Protein Dynamics
Education
B.S./M.Sc. 1991 University of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Ph.D. 1996 University of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Postdoc. 1997-2002 State University of New York at Buffalo
Teaching Interests
Molecular Mechanisms of Neurotransmitter-gated Ion Channels
My laboratory is broadly interested in the relationship between structure and function in neurotransmitter-gated ion channels, with special emphasis on the Cys-loop superfamily of synaptic receptor-channels. Our main tools are single-channel and ensemble electrophysiology, and protein-engineering techniques. Some of the particular issues we have been working on lately are:
- Quantitative characterization of fundamental properties of neurotransmitter-gated ion channels such as rate and equilibrium constants of ligand binding in the closed and open states.
- Quantitative understanding of the different phenomena that contribute to the kinetics of the postsynaptic-current decay under physiological and pathological conditions.
- Linear free-energy relationships and the chemical dynamics of the closed to open conformational change.
- Relationship between structure and electrostatics of the pore domain.
Representative Publications
Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2012. The unanticipated complexity of the selectivity-filter glutamates of nicotinic receptors. Nature Chemical Biology, 8:975–981. [Abstract][News and Views]
Gonzalez-Gutierrez, G., Lukk, T., Agarwal, V., Papke, D., Nair, S. K. and Grosman, C. 2012. Mutations that stabilize the open state of the Erwinia chrisanthemi ligand-gated ion channel fail to change the conformation of the pore domain in crystals. PNAS, 109:6331–6336. [Abstract]
Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2011. Estimating the pKa values of basic and acidic side chains in ion channels using electrophysiological recordings: a robust approach to an elusive problem. Proteins, 79:3485–3493. [Abstract]
Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2011. Tunable pKa values and the basis of opposite charge selectivities in nicotinic-type receptors. Nature, 474:526–530. [Abstract]
Papke, D., Gonzalez-Gutierrez, G. and Grosman, C. 2011. Desensitization of neurotransmitter-gated ion channels during high-frequency stimulation: a comparative study of Cys-loop, AMPA and purinergic receptors. Journal of Physiology, 589:1571–1585. [Abstract]
Gonzalez-Gutierrez, G. and Grosman, C. 2010. Bridging the gap between structural models of nicotinic receptor superfamily ion channels and their corresponding functional states. Journal of Molecular Biology, 403:693–705. [Abstract]
Elenes, S., Decker, M., Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2009. Decremental response to high-frequency trains of acetylcholine pulses but unaltered fractional Ca2+ currents in a panel of "slow-channel syndrome" nicotinic receptor mutants. Journal of General Physiology, 133:151–69. [Abstract]
Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2008. Pore-opening mechanism of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor evinced by proton transfer. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, 15(4):389–96. [Abstract]
Elenes, S., Ni, Y., Cymes, G.D. and Grosman, C. 2006. Desensitization contributes to the synaptic response of gain-of-function mutants of the muscle nicotinic receptor. Journal of General Physiology, 128:615–27. [Abstract]
Purohit, Y. and Grosman, C. 2006. Block of muscle nicotinic receptors by choline suggests that the activation and desensitization gates act as distinct molecular entities. Journal of General Physiology 127:703–17. [Abstract]
Purohit, Y. and Grosman, C. 2006. Estimating binding affinities of the nicotinic receptor for low-efficacy ligands using mixtures of agonists and two-dimensional concentration-response relationships. Journal of General Physiology, 127:719–35. [Abstract]
Cymes, G.D., Ni, Y. and Grosman, C. 2005. Probing ion-channel pores one proton at a time. Nature, 438:975–80. [Abstract] [News and Views]
Grosman, C. 2003. Free-energy landscapes of ion-channel gating are malleable: changes in the number of bound ligands are accompanied by changes in the location of the transition state in acetylcholine receptor channels. Biochemistry, 42:14977–87. [Abstract]
Grosman, C. 2002. Linear Free-Energy Relationships and the Dynamics of Gating in the Acetylcholine Receptor Channel. A phi-value analysis of an allosteric transition at the single-molecule level. Journal of Biological Physics, 28:267–77. [Article]