A Touch of Science

"Touch seems to be as essential as sunlight."
Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of The Senses

Ellen Lumpkin, Ph.D., studies touch at the cellular level with the hope that, one day, new drugs to alleviate pain will be developed.

The elegance of its biology drew Ellen Lumpkin, Ph.D., to study the science of touch and the cellu-lar receptors that govern it. However, the Assis-tant Professor of Neuroscience and Molecular Physi-ol-ogy & Biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine has come to realize that there is also beauty in applying her findings to patients.

"We want to identify the proteins that allow us to distinguish painful from innocuous touch," she said. The answer may lie in ion channels, tiny little pores in the membranes of cells that open and close, allowing charged substances such as calcium to flow in and out of the cell in careful doses.

This sophisticated process motivated Lumpkin to pursue touch after doing her early scientific studies in the field of hearing and balance. Little was known about touch at the cellular level.

"That these molecular machines have evolved for such specialized functions and with such simplicity and elegance drew me to the field," she said. In moving to Baylor College of Medicine from the University of California, San Francisco, she hopes to be able to translate her laboratory findings to patients more easily.

"As I've gotten older and my parents have gotten older, I feel almost as though it's a privilege to pursue science because it's beautiful. I think we owe society more than that," she said.

One obvious use of her work will be in the development of drugs to alleviate pain. The field is growing and presents challenges in applying pain control safely.

In touch wih pain: Ellen Lumpkin, Ph.D., and her team work in a specially designed room using high resolution microscopes and special instruments to study the processes of pain and touch transduction as they actually exist in the cells. Ultimately, they hope to find potential targets for new pain therapies.

She studies mechanotransduction, which is how cells translate a force (like pressure or stretch) into electrical signals that can be interpreted by the brain. Here, in a specially designed room, she uses high resolution microscopes and special instruments that measure tiny electrical impulses to study the processes of pain and touch transduction as they actually exist in the cells. In this way, she hopes to describe the receptors on the cell at the physiological level. Those studies give clues about the types of proteins that transduce touch and pain. Her lab is trying to identify these transduction proteins because they are potential targets for new pain therapies.

"When I started out, the bias was that we would find one fundamental mechanism of mechanotransduction. Over the past five to 10 years, that dogma has changed, and I think there may be multiple transduction mech-anisms. It won't be a one-size-fits-all answer. It's a real paradigm shift and affects the way we look for these molecules."

Dr. Lumpkin's team is trying to identify transduction proteins because they are potential targets for new pain therapies.

Already, she has developed ways to study the touch receptors that are important for sensing shape and texture. They may be the receptors people use when reading Braille with their fingertips. Her lab is now working out similar techniques to study pain receptors.

"Touch is necessary and it enriches our lives. If you lack touch, you can't hold anything unless you can watch yourself doing it," she said. Patients who lose the sense of touch—often because of damage to the tissues on the periphery of their bodies—do not feel pain and often suffer injuries that require amputation. Babies not held enough in infancy have abnormal society interactions. How human brains interpret signals from the body as pleasant or painful is a question that Lumpkin hopes to study further in coordination with the Baylor Human Neuroimaging Laboratory.

"Ten years ago, we knew almost nothing about the molecular basis of hearing," she said. "Now, we know 60 to 100 molecules that are critical to hearing, and almost all have come from genetic studies in humans and mice. I'd like to do the same thing with touch and pain."

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Volume 3, Issue 2, Summer 2007


	A Touch of Science "Touch seems to be as essential as sunlight." Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of The Senses by Ruth SoRelle, M.P.H. Ellen Lumpkin, Ph.D., studies touch at the cellular level with the hope that, one day, new drugs to alleviate pain will be developed. The elegance of its biology drew Ellen Lumpkin, Ph.D., to study the science of touch and the cellu-lar receptors that govern it. However, the Assis-tant Professor of Neuroscience and Molecular Physi-ol-ogy & Biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine has come to realize that there is also beauty in applying her findings to patients. "We want to identify the proteins that allow us to distinguish painful from innocuous touch," she said. The answer may lie in ion channels, tiny little pores in the membranes of cells that open and close, allowing charged substances such as calcium to flow in and out of the cell in careful doses. This sophisticated process motivated Lumpkin to pursue touch after doing her early scientific studies in the field of hearing and balance. Little was known about touch at the cellular level. "That these molecular machines have evolved for such specialized functions and with such simplicity and elegance drew me to the field," she said. In moving to Baylor College of Medicine from the University of California, San Francisco, she hopes to be able to translate her laboratory findings to patients more easily. "As I've gotten older and my parents have gotten older, I feel almost as though it's a privilege to pursue science because it's beautiful. I think we owe society more than that," she said. One obvious use of her work will be in the development of drugs to alleviate pain. The field is growing and presents challenges in applying pain control safely. In touch wih pain: Ellen Lumpkin, Ph.D., and her team work in a specially designed room using high resolution microscopes and special instruments to study the processes of pain and touch transduction as they actually exist in the cells. Ultimately, they hope to find potential targets for new pain therapies. She studies mechanotransduction, which is how cells translate a force (like pressure or stretch) into electrical signals that can be interpreted by the brain. Here, in a specially designed room, she uses high resolution microscopes and special instruments that measure tiny electrical impulses to study the processes of pain and touch transduction as they actually exist in the cells. In this way, she hopes to describe the receptors on the cell at the physiological level. Those studies give clues about the types of proteins that transduce touch and pain. Her lab is trying to identify these transduction proteins because they are potential targets for new pain therapies. "When I started out, the bias was that we would find one fundamental mechanism of mechanotransduction. Over the past five to 10 years, that dogma has changed, and I think there may be multiple transduction mech-anisms. It won't be a one-size-fits-all answer. It's a real paradigm shift and affects the way we look for these molecules." Dr. Lumpkin's team is trying to identify transduction proteins because they are potential targets for new pain therapies. Already, she has developed ways to study the touch receptors that are important for sensing shape and texture. They may be the receptors people use when reading Braille with their fingertips. Her lab is now working out similar techniques to study pain receptors. "Touch is necessary and it enriches our lives. If you lack touch, you can't hold anything unless you can watch yourself doing it," she said. Patients who lose the sense of touch—often because of damage to the tissues on the periphery of their bodies—do not feel pain and often suffer injuries that require amputation. Babies not held enough in infancy have abnormal society interactions. How human brains interpret signals from the body as pleasant or painful is a question that Lumpkin hopes to study further in coordination with the Baylor Human Neuroimaging Laboratory. "Ten years ago, we knew almost nothing about the molecular basis of hearing," she said. "Now, we know 60 to 100 molecules that are critical to hearing, and almost all have come from genetic studies in humans and mice. I'd like to do the same thing with touch and pain."		Search all issues: Features Saving Twins Before Birth Blessing to Botswana Preserving Brains Cocaine Vaccine Shows Promise News Building, Bucks & BBQ DNA Discoverer Gets His Own BCM Cancer Center One of Select Few Spotlight Bert O'Malley: A Pioneer in Molecular Endocrinology Making Sense of the Sense of Touch Tissue Samples Go Digital Severe Skin Conditions Take a Back Seat at Camp Dermadillo Health Economist Must Put Price Tag on the Priceless Doctor Creates Cartoon that "Bugs" Kids About the Risks of Tobacco Briefs Living Longer is Smelly Business Clinical Trials for Cancer Southward Bound Green Tea Component Blocks HIV Cell Entry Genetics Technique Takes Bite out of Research Barriers Sports Legends Lend Helping Hands, Arms to College Development & Alumni News Mitchell Gift Furthers Brain Research Lambert Receives Lifetime Achievement Award Kleberg Foundation Gift Establishes RNAi Screening Core Facility Alumnus Named White House Fellow New Trustees Announced Tailoring Technology to Benefit You, the Patient

	Volume 3, Issue 2, Summer 2007



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