Dr. Zhao-Wen Wang is a professor in the Department of Neuroscience at University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Dr. Wang’s lab studies chemical and electrical synapses using the nematode C. elegans as a model. A research focus of Dr. Wang’s lab is to identify previously unknown regulators of the BK channel using a forward genetics approach. His lab has identified several proteins that are required for BK channel function in vivo. Following a recent discovery of a BK channel regulator in C. elegans by Dr. Wang lab, they have moved to exploring whether the regulatory mechanism is conserved in mammals using a variety of approaches, including electrophysiological analyses with mouse brain slices.

In this webinar, Dr. Wang will:

  • Discus how melatonin regulates neurotransmitter release and sleep behavior by activating Slo1 (the BK channel) in C. elegans
  • Explain how melatonin may activate mammalian Slo1 in a heterologous expression system through a specific melatonin receptor, MT1
  • Define how MT1 physically interacts with Slo1
  • Examine how knockout of MT1 enhances neuronal excitability in SCN neurons