Julie Field, Ph.D.

Research Fellow

     B.S.     Molecular Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, 2004

     Ph.D.   Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, 2010

Biosketch and Research Interests
Julie Field joined the Conn lab in May 2010 as a postdoctoral research fellow after obtaining her doctorate in the laboratory of Randy Blakely at Vanderbilt University. Prior to joining the Conn research group, Julie’s primary research focus was in transporter pharmacology utilizing homology modeling, mutagenesis and biochemical modification to study domain topology and drug interactions in the human serotonin transporter. Currently, her research focuses on the discovery and characterization of novel positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of metabotropic glutamate receptor 8 (mGluR8). Studies of mGluR8 knockout animals have implicated this receptor in numerous neuropsychiatric disorders, including anxiety and pain, and recent data from the Conn lab suggests that mGluR8 activity may exert anti-parkinsonian effects in animal models of PD, making the development of mGluR8-specific compounds a priority for advancing our understanding of this potentially important therapeutic target. Julie is currently characterizing putative mGluR8 PAMs for additional optimization and establishing new mGluR8 cell lines for future high throughput screening.

Selected Publications

Engers DW, Field JR, Le U, Bolinger JD, Zamorano R, Blobaum AL, Jones CK, Jadhav S, Weaver CD, Conn PJ, Lindsley CW, Niswender CM, Hopkins CR. (2010) Discovery, synthesis and SAR development of a series of N-(4-acetamido)-phenylpicolinamides as positive allosteric modulators of metabotropic glutamate receptor 4 (mGlu4) with CNS exposure in rats. (in preparation)

Henry LK, Iwamoto H, Field JR, Kaufmann KW, Dawson ES, Jacobs MT, Adams C, Felts B, Armstrong A, Combs S, Rudnick G, DeFelice LJ, Meiler J, and Blakely RD. (2010) A conserved asparagine residue in TM1 of the serotonin transporter dictates chloride-coupled neurotransmitter transport. (submitted)

Field JR, Henry LK, Blakely RD. (2010) Transmembrane domain 6 of the human serotonin transporter contributes to an aqueously accessible binding pocket for serotonin and the psychostimulant 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Journal of Biological Chemistry 285(15): 11270-11280.

Henry LK, Field JR, Adkins EM, Parnas ML, Vaughn RA, Zou MF, Newman AH, and Blakely RD. (2006) Tyr95 and Ile172 in transmembrane segments I and III of human serotonin transporters interact to establish high-affinity recognition of antidepressants. Journal of Biological Chemistry 281(4):2012-23.