Vasanthi Jayaraman, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
McGovern Medical School
UT Health Science Center at Houston
I consider teaching and mentoring as the most rewarding aspect of my career, because I am able to contribute towards shaping the future of science and medicine by educating the next generation of scientists and doctors.
My graduate training is in physical chemistry, and I worked on spectroscopic investigations of hemoglobin under the guidance of Dr. Thomas Spiro at Princeton University, and a postdoctoral associate I used rapid kinetic electrophysiological measurements to study ligand gated ion channels under the guidance of Dr. George Hess at Cornell University. When I started as an independent investigator I was hence in a unique position to be able to combine these two areas of expertise and developed a research program focusing on understanding the role of structure-dynamics in dictating ion channel function. Over the last 19 years I have developed and used cutting edge spectroscopic tools to gain an understanding of conformational changes in membrane proteins with a focus on ionotropic glutamate receptors.
