GRADUATE ALUMNI: John A. Tran
Entered Program Fall 2002
Completed Program Fall 2008
Ph.D. Thesis
Professional Experience
10/31/09-present
Writer
Ignite Health (an inVentiv health company)
8955 Research Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
Ofc: (949) 336-6705, Fax: (949) 861-3750
Education
2002 - 2008
Ph.D. in Pharmacology & Toxicology
University of California, Irvine
1998 − 2002 Bachelor of Science in Pharmacological Chemistry
University of California, San Diego
Research Experience
2001 Howard Hughes Summer Undergraduate Research Program
Research Internship at UCSD in Biochemistry under Dr. William Allison Presented Research on the Molecular Mechanism of the ATPase Enzyme at the UCSD Summer Undergraduate Research Conference 2001
Research Interests
I am interested in pharmacology because it is a multifaceted scientific field that consists of many branches of science including psychology, physiology, molecular biology, and biochemistry. Pharmacology gathers all these disciplines into one field of study to understand drug interactions; for instance, how drugs bind a receptor to elicit a chemical, biological and behavioral response. One can use this interdisciplinary field to comprehend more fully a biological event.
I am currently researching muscarinic receptors. Muscarinic receptors play a variety of roles in the body. One function of particular interest is the role of muscarinic receptors in the contraction of the gastrointestinal tract smooth muscle. I am studying how muscarinic receptor binding leads to the initiation of second messenger systems that cause stimulation/inhibition of smooth muscle contraction. Second messengers are of interest to me because it amazes me how a cell can be complex, yet be organized enough to trigger, inhibit, and regulate biological responses without any response interfering with each other. I am interested in the major players of signaling cascades, their regulators and the receptors that are associated with them through the use of pharmacological techniques.
Honors and Awards
2007 American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Graduate Student Travel Award for Experimental Biology Meeting, Washington, DC.
2006-2007 Henry Wood Elliott Memorial Award for excellence as a graduate student in Pharmacology
Publications
Tran JA, Matsui M and Ehlert FJ (2006) Differential coupling of muscarinic M1, M2, and M3 receptors to phosphoinositide hydrolysis in urinary bladder and longitudinal muscle of the ileum of the mouse. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 318:649-656.
Ehlert FJ, Ahn S, Pak KJ, Park GJ, Sangnil MS, Tran JA and Matsui M (2007) Neuronally Released Acetylcholine Acts on the M2 Muscarinic Receptor to Oppose the Relaxant Effect of Isoproterenol on Cholinergic Contractions in Mouse Urinary Bladder. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 322:631-7.
Abstracts and Poster Presentations
Tran JA, Matsui M, Griffin MT and Ehlert FJ, Coupling of Muscarinic Receptor Subtypes to Phosphoinositide Hydrolysis in Mouse Ileum and Urinary Bladder. Society for Neuroscience Meeting, Washington, D.C. (2005).
Tran JA, Ehlert FJ. The Intrinsic Relative Activity of an Agonist and its Correlation to Affinity and Efficacy. Experimental Biology Meeting, Washington, D.C. (2006).
Tran JA, Chang A, Matsui M, Ehlert FJ. A Simple Method for Estimation of Agonist Activity at GPCRs: Characterization of Responses Elicited by M2 and M3 Muscarinic Recpetors. Experimental Biology Meeting, San Diego, CA (2008)
Other Interests
Tennis, Mountain Biking, Running, Outdoor Activities
