Dr. R. Adron Harris
Office: MBB 1.124A
phone: (512) 232-2514
lab: 232-2512
fax: 232-2525
email:
Adron Harris received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of North Carolina in 1973, and conducted his postdoctoral work at the University of California at San Francisco. Dr. Harris has received numerous awards for his research on alcoholism, including the Pharmaceutical Manufacturer’s Association Foundation Faculty Development Award, Veterans Administration Alcoholism Research Award and a Distinguished Research Award in 1999. Dr. Harris served as president of he Research Society on Alcoholism from 1993-1995 and is on the Board of Directors of he International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. He served as the scientific director of the Denver Veteran's Administration Alcohol Research Center from 1992-1998 and as the director of the Colorado Center for Alcoholism at the University of Colorado Medical School from 1992-1998. In 1998 he moved to the University of Texas where he holds the M. June and J. Virgil Waggoner Chair in Molecular Biology and is the director of the newly established Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research.
Research Interests
My laboratory is investigating structure and function of ion channels with emphasis on molecular mechanisms responsible for alcohol and drug actions. We are defining the acute actions of alcohol and other drugs on cell signaling as well as the long-term actions responsible for tolerance and dependence. Another aspect is the neurochemical basis for genetic differences in drug response. These experiments use genetically modified mice that vary in susceptibility to drug intoxication and dependence. Our group also studies anesthetic drugs and is pursuing molecular mechanisms responsible for the unconsciousness and amnesia produced by these drugs. A graduate student working in my laboratory would carry out some of the following studies: (a) neurochemical analysis of ion channels of transgenic mice; (b) effects of drugs on ion channels; (c) site-directed mutagenesis of ion channels; (d) expression of cloned genes in Xenopus oocytes; and (e) functional and structural studies of brain neurotransmitter receptors.