Assistant Professor and Graduate Chair, Department of Oral Biology, University of Manitoba
Scientist, Manitoba Institute of Child Health

PhD, University of Manitoba

Receptor Biochemistry, Molecular Pharmacology, Signal Transduction, Protein molecular modeling

Research in our laboratory is focused on a group of membrane proteins known as G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs represent the largest known family of cell surface receptors, with a wide variety of physiological functions. We use a combination of biochemical, cellular and biophysical approaches to study the molecular mechanisms of signal transduction by GPCRs.

The receptors under study in our lab are:

Beta2-adrenergic receptor (B2-AR)
Thromboxane-prostanoid (TP) receptor
Bitter taste receptors (T2Rs)

We expect our work will help us in understanding how GPCRs work at the molecular level.

Selected publications on GPCRs:

Arakawa M, Yanamala N, Upadhyaya J, Halayko A, Klein-Seetharaman J and Chelikani P. 2010. The importance of Valine 114 in ligand binding in β2-Adrenergic Receptor Protein Science. (In press).

Chelikani P, Hornak V, Eilers M, Reeves PJ, Smith SO, RajBhandary UL and Khorana HG. 2007. Role of group-conserved residues in the helical core of Beta2-Adrenergic Receptor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 104 (17): 7027-32

Chelikani P, Reeves PJ, RajBhandary UL and Khorana HG. 2006. The Synthesis and High Level Expression of a Beta2-Adrenergic Receptor Gene in a Tetracycline-inducible Stable Mammalian Cell Line. Protein Science. 15: 1433-40.