Manojkumar Puthenveedu

Associate Professor of Pharmacology We study the cell biology of GPCRs, focusing on opioid and related receptors relevant to drug addiction. We test the exciting new idea that signaling is "spatially encoded" in cells, i.e., that the same drug/receptor pair can have different effects based simply on the location in the cell from which it signals. We use innovative advanced microscopy and molecular genetic techniques to study GPCR trafficking and signaling in real time in living cells. The goal is to actively engineer receptor location to specific sites in the cell and fine-tune receptor physiology. This is a new and potentially transformative approach to receptor pharmacology and drug development.