Scholar Profile

Randen L. Patterson

Assistant Professor
Biology Department
Pennsylvania State University
230 Life Science Bldg.
Shortlidge Rd.
University Park, PA 16802
Voice: 814-865-1668
Email: Rlp25@psu.edu
Personal Homepage
2006 Searle Scholar

Research Interests

Receptor-operated Calcium Signaling Pathways

Our lab focuses on receptor-operated calcium signaling. We investigate the function of the inositol tris-phosphate receptor and the TRP channel superfamily of proteins within neuronal G-protein coupled and tyrosine-kinase coupled receptor pathways. The lab is also refining the gestalt domain detection algorithm (GDDA) which was recently developed by Dr. Patterson here at Penn State University and Dr. van Rossum at Johns Hopkins University. The manuscript describing the GDDA will be appearing an Nature in March 2005. This algorithm can identify functional domains within proteins which have highly divergent sequences. We are rapidly expanding our research using the GDDA to investigate the molecular evolution of protein domains, with lipid binding domains being of special interest.