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Timothy Lynagh's picture

Timothy Lynagh

Researcher, Group Leader
  • E-mailtim.lynagh@uib.no
  • Phone+47 55 58 43 12+47 413 68 345
  • Visitor Address
    Thormøhlens gate 55
    5006 Bergen
  • Postal Address
    Postboks 7800
    5020 Bergen

Certain cells in the nervous system (neurons) must rapidly convert surrounding chemical information into electrical signals. This is generally mediated by ligand-gated ion channels, proteins in the cell membrane that in response to chemical stimuli open an intrinsic channel, allowing the selective passage of electrolytes across the cell membrane.

Through this rapid chemo-electric signaling, ligand-gated ion channels – or receptors – make indispensable contributions to animal development and physiology and constitute important pharmacological targets. We use electrophysiological experiments, chemical biology, and molecular phylogenetics to dissect receptor function and evolution.

A major question we are pursuing is the evolution of excitatory neurotransmitter receptors in the nervous system. The chemical basis for the selective recognition of certain neurotransmitters by their receptors is not perfectly understood. We use cutting edge chemical biology together with comparative and evolutionary analyses to approach this question.

External funding

ERC Starting Grant: iGluRs – A New View (Project start: March 2019)

Selected publications
  • Lynagh, Timothy; Mikhaleva, Yana; Colding, Janne M.; Glover, Joel; Pless, Stephan A. 2018. Acid-sensing ion channels emerged over 600 Mya and are conserved throughout the deuterostomes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 115: 8430-8435. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1806614115

Dandamudi M, Hausen H, Lynagh T (2022).  Comparative analysis defines a broader FMRFamide-gated sodium channel family and determinants of neuropeptide sensitivity.  J Biol Chem 298:1020086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102086

Marti-Solans J, Børve A, Bump P, Hejnol A, Lynagh T (2022). Peripheral and central employment of acid-sensing ion channels during early bilaterian evolutionbioRxiv (preprint) https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.17.484724

 

Academic article
  • Show author(s) (2024). Structural basis for excitatory neuropeptide signaling. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
  • Show author(s) (2024). Loss of activation by GABA in vertebrate delta ionotropic glutamate receptors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
  • Show author(s) (2023). Peripheral and central employment of acid-sensing ion channels during early bilaterian evolution. eLIFE. 25 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2022). Comparative analysis defines a broader FMRFamide-gated sodium channel family and determinants of neuropeptide sensitivity. Journal of Biological Chemistry.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Peptide Inhibitors of the α-Cobratoxin–Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Interaction. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 13709-13718.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Characterization of Schistosoma mansoni Glutamate-Gated Chloride Channels. Methods in molecular biology. 173-183.
  • Show author(s) (2018). Acid-sensing ion channels emerged over 600 MYA and are conserved throughout the deuterostomes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 8430-8435.
Abstract
  • Show author(s) (2023). FMRFamide-gated sodium channel diversity relationship to other DEG/ENaC channels, and the molecular basis for neuropeptide activity. Biophysical Journal.

More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)

Tim studied at The University of Queensland, Australia, receiving his PhD from the Queensland Brain Institute in 2011 for work that established how the antiparasitic drug ivermectin targets neurotransmitter receptors in worms. From 2011 to 2013 he studied receptor modulation by anesthetics and receptor evolution with Bodo Laube at the Technical University of Darmstadt. From 2014-2018 he worked on the function and evolution of receptors with Stephan Pless at the University of Copenhagen. He started at the Sars Centre in January 2019 and began the ERC StG project “iGluRs: A New View” in March 2019.