Chakrapani to Deliver Stetten Lecture

Dr. Sudha Chakrapani

The 2024 DeWitt Stetten Jr. Lecture will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 20, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET, in Lipsett Amphitheater, Bldg. 10, and virtually, via videocast. Dr. Sudha Chakrapani will present “Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Glycinergic Neurotransmission.”

This NIH Director’s Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series event is sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Chakrapani is the director of the Cleveland Center for Membrane and Structural Biology and the John H. Hord Professor and Chair of the department of pharmacology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She has dedicated her career to investigating ion channels that mediate fast synaptic transmission at the neuronal and neuromuscular junction.

She will discuss glycine receptors (GlyRs), including the conformational changes they go through based on different factors, their regulation and the potential to develop subtype-specific therapies for various disease states.

GlyRs at the inhibitory synapses in the spinal cord and brainstem are key players in regulating motor and sensory signals. Differential expression of GlyR subunits governs their widely differing physiological functions, ranging from muscle tone and respiratory rhythm to pain mediation. GlyR dysfunctions are associated with epilepsy, chronic pain, addiction and autism. Targeted regulation of specific GlyR subtypes will require a detailed understanding of their structure, function and pharmacology.

Chakrapani’s scientific approach combines cutting-edge, multidisciplinary tools that include cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) and X-ray crystallography for high-resolution structure determination, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy for protein dynamic measurements, and electrophysiology for functional characterization of ion channels. These techniques provide an atomic description of how structure and dynamics govern protein functioning.

The lecture series was established in 1982 in honor of NIGMS’ third director. Read more about Stetten at https://go.nih.gov/YzlvJUw. 

To watch online, go to https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=55010.

People who require sign language interpretation or other reasonable accommodation to participate should email: WALSoffice@od.nih.gov.