Auerbach receives $2.7 million award

By LOIS BAKER
News Services Editor

Biophysicist Anthony Auerbach has been selected to receive a Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award totaling $2.7 million over seven years from the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), an arm of the National Institutes of Health

Auerbach, professor of physiology and biophysics, has conducted highly regarded research in cell communication and synapses for 12 years.

Javits awardees, limited to 12 a year, are selected annually by the NINDS Advisory Council based on their research history and productivity. They may not apply for the honor. The NIH's description of the award states: "The (Javits award) is made to distinguished investigators who have a record of scientific excellence and productivity, who are actively pursuing an area of research of strategic importance, and who can be expected to continue to be highly productive for a seven-year period."

Auerbach's research under this award will focus on acetylcholine receptors. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter involved in carrying chemical messages across certain brain synapses and across all human nerve-muscle synapses. Acetylcholine receptors-proteins on the cells receiving the message-bind the neurotransmitter and set in motion a surge of molecular activity that results in thought or motion.

"Before the receptors come into contact with the transmitter molecules, they are very, very quiet, but after they bind acetylcholine, they jump into action," Auerbach said. "In less than a thousandth of a second, a receptor opens up a pore (a hole) in itself, which allows certain electrically charged ions normally present in our body fluids to move through the receptor protein, across the membrane and into the muscle cell. This ion movement, in turn, triggers a whole cascade of events that eventually leads to muscle contraction.

"In the brain, neurons communicating with other neurons communicating with still other neurons is the physical basis of thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Synapses are the key structures for information processing in the brain. It is likely that many diseases will be traced to a failure of some aspect of synaptic communication.

"Our job is to understand the molecular and atomic events that underlie this behavior-that is, the machinery of the brain," Auerbach said. "Why is the receptor so quiet before it comes into contact with the transmitter? What makes the transmitter so special? Exactly how does that hole open up? Why do only some ions cross though the hole, while others don't? What makes the hole close up again?

"I think this research is leading the way to understanding receptors in general," Auerbach said. "Once we understand muscle acetylcholine receptors, we will be much better able to understand other receptors in the brain which may play a more direct role in the generation of disease."

Auerbach also holds a separate $947,000 NIH grant to study a different receptor protein, and is a co-investigator on a $1,925,000 NIH grant and a $1 million award from the Keck Foundation for the analysis of ion channels and the development of analysis software.