Dr Lachlan Rash, UQ SBMS - Acid sensing ion channels as therapeutic targets

Speaker: 

Dr Lachlan Rash, UQ SBMS

Abstract:

Acidosis occurs in pathological conditions related to ischemia, trauma, tumours and infection and is a hallmark of inflammation, during which the extracellular pH can reach as low as 5.5. Different cell types exposed to acidosis respond in different ways; sensory neurons and immune cells are sensitised/activated and CNS neurons can be suppressed or fatally hyper-activated. How particular cell types sense and respond to acidosis and the immediate signalling mechanisms involved are not well understood. Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are primary pH sensors in mammals and are expressed in neuronal, immune, tumour and endo/epithelial cells. ASICs are present, upregulated and activated in all of the pathological conditions mentioned above. Indeed, interruption of ASIC function in these conditions has provided proof of concept for ASICs as therapeutic targets in a number of common but poorly managed conditions. This talk will cover our research efforts exploring the therapeutic potential of ASIC inhibitors in pain and stroke

Speaker bio:

Dr Lachlan Rash is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland. Following completion of his PhD in the Department of Pharmacology at Monash University, Lachlan spent a three years at the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology in the south of France working on the discovery and characterisation of venom peptides that act on acid-sensing ion channels and voltage gated sodium channels. Dr Rash joined UQ at the Institute for Molecular Biosciences on an INSERM/NHMRC post-doctoral fellowship in 2005, where he was an research only academic for 11 years before joining the School of Biomedical Sciences as a Senior Lecturer in pharmacology in March 2016. At SBMS he leads the Ion Channel Pharmacology lab which uses animal venoms and traditional medicines as a source of novel drugs to help understand the structure, function and modulation of various ligand and voltage-gated ion channels, how this changes under pathological conditions such as acidosis and hence, their role in pain, inflammation and neurological disorders