Nathan Dascal

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor of Physiology, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel

EDUCATION:
• 1969-1974 BSc University of Leningrad (USSR), Faculty of Biology
• 1975-1977 MSc with honours, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel
• 1979-1983 PhD Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel. Title of the thesis: 'Muscarinic responses in Xenopus oocytes'

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
The main research interest of my group is in the understanding of molecular mechanisms of signal transduction by neurotransmitters and hormones in neurons and cardiac cells, and their relation to cell function and to human disease. Excitability of neurons and cardiac cells is controlled by changes in the activity of neurotransmitter receptors and ion channels. We are studying the central open issues in this field: protein complexes and the biochemical cascades involved in modulation of ion channels; cellular, biophysical and biochemical mechanisms that underlie the function of proteins responsible for excitability; changes in their function as a result of genetic disorders and cardiac disease; and the possible relation of ion channels to affective disorders such as the bipolar disease.

HOME PAGE
http://medicine.mytau.org/dascal/