Faculty
Robert Chow
Contact
University of Southern California : National Academy of Inventors, California Chapter, 2013
University of Southern California: Fellow of the American College of Physicians, 2004
Biophysical Society: Founder, Exocytosis and Endocytosis Subgroup, 2000
University of Edinburgh: Founding Head of Membrane Biology Group, 1998
University of Edinburgh: Sir Henry Wellcome Innovative Research Award, 1997-1998
University of Edinburgh: Founder, Exocytosis and Endocytosis Junior Scientist Meeting, 1997
University of Edinburgh: Royal Society New Investigator Award, 1996
University of Edinburgh: Nuffield Foundation New Investigator Award, 1996
Max Planck Inst. for Biophysical Chemistry: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, 1993-1995
Max Planck Inst. for Biophysical Chemistry: Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship, 1991-1993
Max Planck Inst for Biophysical Chemistry: Max Planck Society Fellowship, 1990-1991
University of Pennsylvania: Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society, 1988
University of Pennsylvania: Grass Fellow, 1984
University of Pennsylvania: Medical Scientist Training Fellowship, 1981-1988
Brown University: Sigma Xi National Scientific Honor Society, 1981
Brown University: CRC Chemistry Award, 1981
Corrigendum to 'Estradiol Protects White Matter of Male C57BL6J Mice against Experimental Chronic Cerebral Hypoperfusion' [Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases Volume 27, Issue 7, July 2018, Pages 1743-1751] J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2024 Jul; 33(7):107710. . View in PubMed
Altered adult neurogenesis and gliogenesis in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy Nat Neurosci. 2022 04; 25(4):493-503. . View in PubMed
Global feather orientations changed by electric current iScience. 2021 Jun 25; 24(6):102671. . View in PubMed
Integrating Bioelectrical Currents and Ca2+ Signaling with Biochemical Signaling in Development and Pathogenesis Bioelectricity. 2020 Sep 01; 2(3):210-220. . View in PubMed
Focused Ultrasound Stimulates ER Localized Mechanosensitive PANNEXIN-1 to Mediate Intracellular Calcium Release in Invasive Cancer Cells Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020; 8:504. . View in PubMed
Robust RNA-Seq of aRNA-amplified single cell material collected by patch clamp Sci Rep. 2020 02 06; 10(1):1979. . View in PubMed
Stimulation strategies for selective activation of retinal ganglion cell soma and threshold reduction J Neural Eng. 2019 04; 16(2):026017. . View in PubMed
Mitigating Antagonism between Transcription and Proliferation Allows Near-Deterministic Cellular ReprogrammingCell Stem Cell. 2019 10 03; 25(4):486-500. e9. . View in PubMed
Estradiol Protects White Matter of Male C57BL6J Mice against Experimental Chronic Cerebral Hypoperfusion J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2018 Jul; 27(7):1743-1751. . View in PubMed
Direct measurement of bipolar cell responses to electrical stimulation in wholemount mouse retina J Neural Eng. 2018 08; 15(4):046003. . View in PubMed
Calcium oscillations coordinate feather mesenchymal cell movement by SHH dependent modulation of gap junction networks Nat Commun. 2018 12 18; 9(1):5377. . View in PubMed
Alveolar epithelial cell processing of nanoparticles activates autophagy and lysosomal exocytosis Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2018 08 01; 315(2):L286-L300. . View in PubMed
GCaMP expression in retinal ganglion cells characterized using a low-cost fundus imaging system J Neural Eng. 2017 10; 14(5):056018. . View in PubMed
Zika Virus Infects Intermediate Progenitor Cells and Post-mitotic Committed Neurons in Human Fetal Brain Tissues Sci Rep. 2017 11 01; 7(1):14883. . View in PubMed
Functional Assay of Cancer Cell Invasion Potential Based on Mechanotransduction of Focused Ultrasound Front Oncol. 2017; 7:161. . View in PubMed
The GCaMP-R Family of Genetically Encoded Ratiometric Calcium Indicators ACS Chem Biol. 2017 04 21; 12(4):1066-1074. . View in PubMed
Method to remove photoreceptors from whole mount retina in vitro J Neurophysiol. 2017 11 01; 118(5):2763-2769. . View in PubMed
In vivo characterization of genetic expression of virus-transduced calcium indicators in retinal ganglion cells using a low-cost funduscope Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2016 Aug; 2016:1316-1319. . View in PubMed
Calibration of Trapping Force on Cell-Size Objects From Ultrahigh-Frequency Single-Beam Acoustic Tweezer IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2016 11; 63(11):1988-1995. . View in PubMed
Assessing characteristics of RNA amplification methods for single cell RNA sequencing BMC Genomics. 2016 11 24; 17(1):966. . View in PubMed
Diabetic Risk Factors Promote Islet Amyloid Polypeptide Misfolding by a Common, Membrane-mediated Mechanism Sci Rep. 2016 08 17; 6:31094. . View in PubMed
Improving the spatial resolution of epiretinal implants by increasing stimulus pulse duration Sci Transl Med. 2015 Dec 16; 7(318):318ra203. . View in PubMed
Induced pluripotent stem cell models of Zellweger spectrum disorder show impaired peroxisome assembly and cell type-specific lipid abnormalities Stem Cell Res Ther. 2015 Aug 29; 6:158. . View in PubMed
Non-coding RNAs derived from an alternatively spliced REST transcript (REST-003) regulate breast cancer invasiveness Sci Rep. 2015 Jun 08; 5:11207. . View in PubMed
Corrections: High-Fat Diet-Induced Insulin Resistance does not Increase Plasma Anandamide Levels or Potentiate Anandamide Insulinotropic Effect in Isolated Canine Islets PLoS One. 2015; 10(6):e0131033. . View in PubMed
High-fat diet-induced insulin resistance does not increase plasma anandamide levels or potentiate anandamide insulinotropic effect in isolated canine islets PLoS One. 2015; 10(4):e0123558. . View in PubMed
Patch clamp recordings of retinal bipolar cells in response to extracellular electrical stimulation in wholemount mouse retina Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2015; 2015:3363-6. . View in PubMed
Interphase gap as a means to reduce electrical stimulation thresholds for epiretinal prostheses J Neural Eng. 2014 Feb; 11(1):016007. . View in PubMed
Investigating contactless high frequency ultrasound microbeam stimulation for determination of invasion potential of breast cancer cells Biotechnol Bioeng. 2013 Oct; 110(10):2697-705. . View in PubMed
Complexin facilitates exocytosis and synchronizes vesicle release in two secretory model systems J Physiol. 2013 May 15; 591(10):2463-73. . View in PubMed
Fluorescently-Labeled Estradiol Internalization and Membrane Trafficking in Live N-38 Neuronal Cells Visualized with Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy J Steroids Horm Sci. 2013 Apr 20; Suppl 12. . View in PubMed
Light-triggered modulation of cellular electrical activity by ruthenium diimine nanoswitches ACS Chem Neurosci. 2013 Apr 17; 4(4):585-93. . View in PubMed
Imaging the response of the retina to electrical stimulation with genetically encoded calcium indicators J Neurophysiol. 2013 Apr; 109(7):1979-88. . View in PubMed
A novel dual-color reporter for identifying insulin-producing beta-cells and classifying heterogeneity of insulinoma cell lines PLoS One. 2012; 7(4):e35521. . View in PubMed
Simplified method to isolate highly pure canine pancreatic islets Pancreas. 2012 Jan; 41(1):31-8. . View in PubMed
Resolution of the epiretinal prosthesis is not limited by electrode size IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2011 Aug; 19(4):436-42. . View in PubMed
Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor 1 mutation perturbs glucose homeostasis and enhances susceptibility to diet-induced diabetes J Endocrinol. 2011 Aug; 210(2):209-17. . View in PubMed
Acute and long-term response of dopamine nigrostriatal synapses to a single, low-dose episode of 3-nitropropionic acid-mediated chemical hypoxia Synapse. 2011 Apr; 65(4):339-50. . View in PubMed
Interphase gap decreases electrical stimulation threshold of retinal ganglion cells Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2011; 2011:6725-8. . View in PubMed
Characteristics and functions of {alpha}-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate receptors expressed in mouse pancreatic {alpha}-cells Endocrinology. 2010 Apr; 151(4):1541-50. . View in PubMed
Cytopathology and exocrine dysfunction induced in ex vivo rabbit lacrimal gland acinar cell models by chronic exposure to histamine or serotonin Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2009 Jul; 50(7):3164-75. . View in PubMed
Selective labeling of retinal ganglion cells with calcium indicators by retrograde loading in vitro J Neurosci Methods. 2009 May 15; 179(2):166-72. . View in PubMed
Ezrin mediates tethering of the gamma-aminobutyric acid transporter GAT1 to actin filaments via a C-terminal PDZ-interacting domain Biophys J. 2009 Apr 08; 96(7):2949-60. . View in PubMed
Fluorescent cargo proteins in peptidergic endocrine cells: cell type determines secretion kinetics at exocytosis Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Jan; 1152:7-17. . View in PubMed
Complexin II plays a positive role in Ca2+-triggered exocytosis by facilitating vesicle priming Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Dec 09; 105(49):19538-43. . View in PubMed
A novel tool to visualize the cell secretory pathwayFocus on "a fluorimetry-based ssYFP secretion assay to monitor vasopressin-induced exocytosis in LLC-PK1 cells expressing aquaporin-2". Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2008 Dec; 295(6):C1473. . View in PubMed
Decreased striatal dopamine release underlies increased expression of long-term synaptic potentiation at corticostriatal synapses 24 h after 3-nitropropionic-acid-induced chemical hypoxia J Neurosci. 2008 Sep 17; 28(38):9585-97. . View in PubMed
Human insulin vesicle dynamics during pulsatile secretion Diabetes. 2007 May; 56(5):1277-88. . View in PubMed
Calcium-activated endoplasmic reticulum stress as a major component of tumor cell death induced by 2,5-dimethyl-celecoxib, a non-coxib analogue of celecoxib Mol Cancer Ther. 2007 Apr; 6(4):1262-75. . View in PubMed
Mouse adrenal chromaffin cell isolation J Vis Exp. 2007 Jan 05; (2):129. . View in PubMed
Mechanisms of peptide hormone secretion Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2006 Dec; 17(10):408-15. . View in PubMed
Principles of two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy and other nonlinear imaging approaches Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2006 Sep 15; 58(7):788-808. . View in PubMed
Nanobiolistic delivery of indicators to the living mouse retina J Neurosci Methods. 2006 May 15; 153(1):154-61. . View in PubMed
Pancreatic beta-cells secrete insulin in fast- and slow-release forms Diabetes. 2006 Mar; 55(3):600-7. . View in PubMed
Fluorescent cargo proteins in pancreatic beta-cells: design determines secretion kinetics at exocytosis Biophys J. 2004 Dec; 87(6):L03-5. . View in PubMed
Real-time imaging of renin release in vitro Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2004 Aug; 287(2):F329-35. . View in PubMed
Biochemical changes contributing to functional quiescence in lacrimal gland acinar cells after chronic ex vivo exposure to a muscarinic agonist Scand J Immunol. 2003 Nov; 58(5):550-65. . View in PubMed
Red, yellow, green go!--A novel tool for microscopic segregation of secretory vesicle pools according to their age Biochem Soc Trans. 2003 Aug; 31(Pt 4):851-6. . View in PubMed
Functional and spatial segregation of secretory vesicle pools according to vesicle age Nature. 2003 Mar 13; 422(6928):176-80. . View in PubMed
Calcium dependence of action potential-induced endocytosis in chromaffin cells Pflugers Arch. 2003 Feb; 445(5):540-6. . View in PubMed
Efficacy of Semliki Forest virus transduction of bovine adrenal chromaffin cells: an analysis of heterologous protein targeting and distribution Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002 Oct; 971:641-6. . View in PubMed
Exocytosis studies in a chromaffin cell-free system: imaging of single-vesicle exocytosis in a chromaffin cell-free system using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002 Oct; 971:257-61. . View in PubMed
Use of ANF-EGFP for the visualization of secretory vesicles in bovine adrenal chromaffin cells Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002 Oct; 971:275-6. . View in PubMed
Intracellular calcium dependence of large dense-core vesicle exocytosis in the absence of synaptotagmin I Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Sep 25; 98(20):11680-5. . View in PubMed
Biochem J. 2000 Oct 01; 351(Pt 1):33-7. . View in PubMed
Double C2 proteinA review. Biochimie. 2000 May; 82(5):421-6. . View in PubMed
Transient, phorbol ester-induced DOC2-Munc13 interactions in vivo J Biol Chem. 1999 Sep 24; 274(39):27347-50. . View in PubMed
High-efficiency Semliki Forest virus-mediated transduction in bovine adrenal chromaffin cells Biochem J. 1999 Sep 15; 342 Pt 3:497-501. . View in PubMed
Evanescent-wave microscopy: a new tool to gain insight into the control of transmitter release Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1999 Feb 28; 354(1381):307-18. . View in PubMed
Multiple stimulation-dependent processes regulate the size of the releasable pool of vesicles Eur Biophys J. 1999; 28(2):91-101. . View in PubMed
Extrasynaptic vesicular transmitter release from the somata of substantia nigra neurons in rat midbrain slices J Neurosci. 1998 May 15; 18(10):3548-53. . View in PubMed
Comparison of secretory responses as measured by membrane capacitance and by amperometry Biophys J. 1998 Apr; 74(4):2100-13. . View in PubMed
Cylindrically etched carbon-fiber microelectrodes for low-noise amperometric recording of cellular secretion Anal Chem. 1998 Mar 01; 70(5):985-90. . View in PubMed
The last few milliseconds in the life of a secretory granuleDocking, dynamics and fusion visualized by total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM). Eur Biophys J. 1998; 27(2):83-98. . View in PubMed
Kinetics of exocytosis in adrenal chromaffin cells Semin Cell Dev Biol. 1997 Apr; 8(2):133-40. . View in PubMed
A simple method for insulating carbon-fiber microelectrodes using anodic electrophoretic deposition of paint Anal Chem. 1996 Sep 01; 68(17):3054-8. . View in PubMed
Rapid fluctuations in transmitter release from single vesicles in bovine adrenal chromaffin cells Biophys J. 1996 Mar; 70(3):1543-52. . View in PubMed
Mechanisms determining the time course of secretion in neuroendocrine cells Neuron. 1996 Feb; 16(2):369-76. . View in PubMed
Swelling-induced catecholamine secretion recorded from single chromaffin cells Pflugers Arch. 1995 Dec; 431(2):196-203. . View in PubMed
Coincidence of early glucose-induced depolarization with lowering of cytoplasmic Ca2+ in mouse pancreatic beta-cells J Physiol. 1995 Jun 15; 485 ( Pt 3):607-17. . View in PubMed
Time course of Ca2+ concentration triggering exocytosis in neuroendocrine cells Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 Dec 20; 91(26):12765-9. . View in PubMed
Kinetics of the secretory response in bovine chromaffin cells following flash photolysis of caged Ca2+ Biophys J. 1994 Dec; 67(6):2546-57. . View in PubMed
A two-step model of secretion control in neuroendocrine cells Pflugers Arch. 1993 Jul; 424(2):105-12. . View in PubMed
Delay in vesicle fusion revealed by electrochemical monitoring of single secretory events in adrenal chromaffin cells Nature. 1992 Mar 05; 356(6364):60-3. . View in PubMed
Cadmium block of squid calcium currentsMacroscopic data and a kinetic model. J Gen Physiol. 1991 Oct; 98(4):751-70. . View in PubMed
Neuritic outgrowth in primary cell culture of neurons from the squid, Loligo pealei Neurosci Lett. 1989 Feb 13; 97(1-2):23-8. . View in PubMed
Supercharging: a method for improving patch-clamp performance Biophys J. 1987 Jul; 52(1):133-6. . View in PubMed
The role of calcium in the stimulation of aldosterone production by adrenocorticotropin, angiotensin II, and potassium in isolated glomerulosa cells Endocrinology. 1979 Aug; 105(2):327-33. . View in PubMed
We work with neurons and endocrine cells. Many endocrine cells such as pancreatic beta and chromaffin cells, like neurons, fire action potentials, exhibit fast calcium-dependent exocytosis, and express synaptic proteins or closely related proteins. They have the advantages of being easy to prepare, and their secretory vesicles are larger than synaptic vesicles and can therefore be visualized more readily. We use viral vectors to express the protein of interest in native or mutated form, and we then study the effects on secretion. The high-resolution methods we use to monitor exocytosis include membrane capacitance measurements, carbon-fiber amperometry, and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (also called evanescent-wave microscopy).
Another related area of interest of the laboratory is the cellular mechanism of abnormal secretion and cell death in diabetes mellitus. In collaboration with Prof. Ralf Langen (Biochemistry, ZNI), we are studying the mechanism of cell death in pancreatic beta cells. The aim is to understand the nature of derangements in beta cell function early in disease, which may permit design of therapeutic interventions early in the development of type I and II diabetes.
In collaboration with Mark Humayun (Ophthalmology, BME) and Jim Weiland (Ophthalmology, BME), we are studying methods to restore sight to the blind. In my laboratory, we perform imaging of retinal ganglion and bipolar neurons expressing genetically encoded calcium indicators, in order to better understand how to improve signaling between the microelectrode array of an implanted epiretinal prosthesis and the retina. In addition, we are working on photoactivated molecules that embed in cell membranes, converting the cells into light-sensors -- a novel cellular prosthesis.
A recent interest of our laboratory pertains to cancer biology. When cancer cells become invasive, they express many neuronal-type proteins, including those involved in electrical signaling, secretion, and motility. Thus, we have been studying how these genes are turned on, in an effort to develop approaches to recognize the potential of cancer cells to invade/metastasize, as well as to find ways to stop invasion. One recent discovery we made in collaboration with Prof. Kirk Shung (BME) is that highly invasive breast cancer cells, but not less invasive cells, exhibit calcium elevations upon ultrasound stimulation. We are investigating the pathways involved, and we are collaborating with oncologists to develop a possible clinical assay.
