My research interests are, broadly, in the mechanisms of signaling and transport across cellular membranes. I trained as a structural biologist, and that continues to be my comfort zone. Over my career, I have investigated proteins implicated in all senses, starting with vision (the vertebrate photoreceptor signal transduction pathway) as a graduate student, continuing to somatosensation (TRP channels), hearing (tip-link cadherins important in hearing and balance), and taste and olfaction (current interests in the insect gustatory receptor (GR) family). We are also interested in the clustered protocadherins and how their cell-cell signaling assemblies help direct the formation on the neural network. (In my lab, I also have projects only loosely connected to neuroscience, working on the Nramp family of transition metal transporters and on the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) family of transporters.)
I grew up near Québec City, did a B.Sc. in Biochemistry at Université de Montréal (en Français!), a PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University, a Postdoc here at Harvard, and have been on the faculty in MCB since 2002 (yikes – has it really been that long?!?). Hobbies include nature photography, gardening (veggies especially), and Lindy Hop.