James R. Walker

Mentors: Justin Du Bois and Vijay Pande

Project Title: Design, Synthesis and Testing of Nav Inhibitors

Biography

I graduated with first class honors in Chemistry from Queensland University of Technology where I synthesized dual-functional nitroxides for material and biological applications. At Stanford I work on a multi-disciplinary project spanning, organic synthesis, computational modeling, molecular biology and electrophysiology with my CMAD co-fellow Paul Novick. We are interested in understanding the binding site of Nav through the preparation and testing of novel guanidinium toxin analogues. Outside of lab I enjoy Stanford sports and playing on the GSB rugby team.

Research Summary

My research is focused on understanding how naturally occurring poisons stop nerve signals and if we can use them to stop specific types of nerve signals, i.e. pain signals. To target this lofty goal we used a highly collaborative approach using state-of-the-art techniques from three different scientific labs on campus. My co-fellow Paul Novick and I initiated this student-driven collaboration focused on the protein believed to be responsible for sending pain signals. Without the information garnered from all three areas of research we would not have been able to reach the same depth of understanding we have achieved. We have determined that the protein responsible for sending pain signals is unique and that it may be possible to target this protein selectively by modifying the structure of a naturally occurring poison, saxitoxin. 

(1) Walker, J. R.; Novick, P. A.; Parsons, W. H.; McGregor, M.; Zablocki, J.; Pande, V. S.; and Du Bois, J. Marked difference in saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin affinity for the human nociceptive voltage-gated sodium channel (Nav1.7). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2012.