Alan Smrcka, Ph.D.
Professor avsmrcka@umich.edu 734-615-4945 5560C MSRB II Alan has been studying G proteins and GPCR pharmacology for more than 30 years. He is dedicated to trainee mentoring and performing cutting edge science using the latest technologies. His work spans studies of the roles of GPCR signaling in cardiac, neuro, cancer and innate immune systems. He has published over 125 papers and is a Fellow of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and holds the Benedict Luchessi Collegiate Chair of Cardiovascular Pharmacology.
Carolina Fuentes-Hernandez, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow cphernan@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5554 MSRB II Carolina received her Ph.D. from the University of Chile under the mentorship of Dr. Sergio Lavendero where she was trained in cardiovascular biology with and emphasis on mitochondrial biology. She is currently working on mechanisms for cardiac protection by beta 2 adrenergic agonists.
Claudia Munoz Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow cmunozr@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5554 MSRB II Claudia received her Ph.D. from the University of Chile under the mentorship of Dr. Sergio Lavendero where she was trained in cardiovascular biology. She has been working on mouse models of cardiovascular disease. She is currently working on mechanisms for cardiac protection by beta 2 adrenergic agonists using in vivo models.
Saji Abraham, Ph.D.
Research Lab Specialist Intermediate Saji@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5554 MSRB II Saji received his Ph.D is in Botany in 2001 From Mahatma Gandhi University, India. He has skills in molecular cloning, protein purification and cell biology and supports multiple projects in the laboratory.
Michael Burroughs
Research Lab Specialist Assoc. mburrou@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5558 MSRB II Michael has a degree in Biochemistry from SUNY Binghamton. He is a Lab Research Specialist Associate with expertise in drug screening, protein purification and most other assays in the laboratory.
Rongxi Zhang
Ph.D. Student rongxi@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5554 MSRB II Rongxi received a joint BSc in Biochemistry and Pharmacology from University of Strathclyde and China Pharmaceutical University. Rongxi is interested in studying novel protein-protein interactions of G protein alpha subunits and their roles in regulation of Ras signaling.
Kristin Kinstler, MD, Ph.D.
Pediatric Fellow kinstler@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5554 MSRB II Kristin received her MD and Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut under the mentorship of Kimberly Dodge-Kafka where she studied the role of A kinase anchoring proteins in regulation of adrenergic receptor signaling in cardiac myocytes. She is currently a pediatric resident at Mott Children’s and is visiting the Smrcka laboratory as part of the Pediatric Physician Scientist Program and is interested in adrenergic signaling in cardiac cells as a target for treatment of heart failure.
George Frost
Undergraduate Researcher georgfr@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5554 MSRB II George is a sophomore majoring in Biology and is very interested in science! He assists all members of the laboratory with their research.
RECENT PAST LAB MEMBERS
Elaine Qu
Graduated with Dual Degree in Biochemistry and Biophysics from UM equ@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5554 MSRB II Elaine did a postbac year in the Smrcka lab. She is interested in understanding the role of G proteins in developmental epileptic encephalopathies. She is currently in the MD Ph.D. program at Baylor College of Medicine
Nathalie Momplaisir
Received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 2025 mnlancy@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5558 MSRB II Nathalie received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 2019 from Tuskegee University. Nathalie joined the laboratory in April of 2020 and worked on identifying and characterizing G protein targets involved in neurological diseases. She is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow, US Medical Affairs Immunology at Abbvie.
Joseph Loomis
Received his Ph.D. in Chemical Biology in 2024 jfloomis@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5558 MSRB II Joseph received a Bachelor of Science with a dual major in Biochemistry and Chemistry in 2019 from The University of Kansas. Joseph joined the laboratory in April of 2020 and is worked on studying the signaling properties of Gq subunits in regulation of chromatin remodeling.
Tyler Lefevre
Received his Ph.D. in Chemical Biology in 2023. Tyler worked on discovering new roles for and functional properties for determining specificity of the Gi G protein subtypes in cellular functions. Tyler is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in Antibody Design and Engineering at Astra Zeneca
Gissell Sanchez
Received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 2023. Gissell worked on a project under the co-mentorship of Drs. Smrcka and Jutkiewicz in May of 2019 working development of novel treatments for opioid analgesia through targeting phospholipase C and G proteins.
Wenhui Wei
Received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology in 2023. She is currently doing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at San Diego continuing to work in the field of Cardiovascular Biology.
Hoa Phan
Postdoctoral Fellow hophan@med.umich.edu 734-764-9925 5554 MSRB II Hoa is from Vietnam and completed her Ph.D. research with Dr. Richard Neubig at Michigan State working on RGS proteins. She joined the Smrcka laboratory in October 2018. She worked to understand the roles of phospholipase C mutations in cancer as well as identifying new mechanisms for PLC regulation by GPCRs.
Naincy Chandan
Ph.D. Student nchandan@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5554 MSRB II Naincy received her bachelors and masters degree in Biotechnology, from India. She joined the Smrcka laboratory in April 2016 and received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology in October of 2021. She developed a proximity labeling proteomics method for identification of new G protein Signaling Pathways.
Nam Hoon Kim
Undergraduate Student namhook@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5554 MSRB II Nam is a sophomore at the University of Michigan majoring in Biochemistry with a minor in Biophysics. His project is structure function analysis of activating phospholipase C mutations.
Craig Nash, Ph.D.
Craig completed his PhD at the University of Birmingham, UK in 2011 and after a 3-year post-doc at the University of Leicester, UK, worked the Smrcka lab in from 2015-2020. His project focused on the regulation of PLCe by cAMP-mediated pathways, particularly focusing on regulation by intracellular GPCRs. He is currently a Research Scientist at the Broad Institute.
Isaac Fisher
Ph.D. Isaac graduated from Slippery Rock University in 2012 and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in 2020. He is currently working on understanding the mechanism of PLCb activation by G-proteins in Dr. Angeline Lyon’s laboratory at Purdue University.
Loren Brown PhD
Postdoc Loren conducted his PhD studies in the laboratory of Dr. Paul Insel in the Department of Pharmacology at UC San Diego.
Soneida Rodriguez
Undergraduate Researcher Soneida is a participant in the University of Michigan Research Opportunity Program (UROP). She is studied the role of Phospholipase C in regulation of cardiac fibrosis.
Richard Ransom, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Scientist Richard received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Purdue University in 1991, and did postdoctoral work at the University of California, Riverside, and Michigan State University on fungal host-selective, cyclic-peptide toxins. He has held faculty positions at the University of Michigan and at The Ohio State University prior to joining the Smrcka lab in 2017. His previous areas of interest include fungal plant pathology, cyclic peptide toxins, kidney glomerular disease, and the mechanism of action of glucocorticoid therapies. His studied the signaling mechanisms regulated by phospholipase C.
Adrian Campbell, Ph.D.
Research Fellow Adrian received his PhD from University of New South Wales, where he characterized a novel family of allosteric modulators for the α1-adrenergic receptors. In our laboratory he worked on a drug development project, looking for small molecule inhibitors of Gβγ.
Jerry Madukwe
Graduate Student (URMC) jmadukwe@umich.edu 734-764-9925 5554 MSRB II Jerry received his Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Rochester. He is currently the editor of Trends in Pharmacological Sciences.
Jesi Lee Anne To
Successfully defended her thesis in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in April of 2018.
Rafael Gil de Rubio
Successfully defended his thesis in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in March of 2018. He is currently a Scientist at Riparian Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, MA.