果冻影院

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Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy (CBNA)
Tayler D. Sheahan, PhD (she/her)

Tayler D. Sheahan, PhD

Assistant Professor

Locations

  • Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy
  • BSB, 4th Floor

Contact Information

Education

Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2024
PhD, Washington University in St. Louis, 2017
BS, Marquette University, 2012

Biography

is a neuroscientist studying the neural basis of pain and itch. Her research career began as an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Ed Blumenthal’s lab at Marquette University, where she studied eggshell development in the fruit fly as a model of how extracellular structures are organized. Dr. Sheahan then pursued a doctorate in neurosciences at Washington University in St. Louis in the lab of Dr. Rob Gereau. Her doctoral work included several studies broadly aimed at bridging the translational gap between rodent and human pain research by asking questions like: ‘How do we measure pain in rodents?’ and ‘How similar are the neurons that sense pain in mice and humans?’

In 2018, she joined Dr. Sarah Ross’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow in the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research at the University of Pittsburgh. Her work, supported by an NINDS K99/R00, F32, and T32, focused on understanding how itch is encoded in the spinal cord, leading to two key discoveries: the spinal neuron populations that encode itch, as well as the site of action within the spinal cord of clinically effective anti-itch drugs that target the kappa opioid receptor.

In 2024, Dr. Sheahan returned to Milwaukee and launched her independent lab at the 果冻影院 in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy. She continues to combine cellular and molecular neuroscience, neurophysiology, and behavioral neuroscience approaches to tease apart mechanisms of pain and itch in health and disease. 

Dr. Sheahan is excited to have the privilege to train the next generation of scientists. Undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees who are enthusiastic about somatosensory neurobiology and interested in joining the Sheahan Lab are encouraged to reach out to Dr. Sheahan at tsheahan@mcw.edu. 

Research Interests

The Sheahan Lab studies how the sensations of pain and itch are encoded in the nervous system. These sensations were evolved to protect our bodies from potential dangers in the environment, but can go awry and give rise to debilitating diseases like chronic pain and chronic itch (e.g. eczema). Our research focus is to first understand how pain and itch are typically encoded throughout the nervous system and then pinpoint changes that occur to give rise to disease, with the long-term goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets for pain and itch relief. To do this, we use a range of approaches in rodent models including molecular genetics, circuit mapping, two-photon Ca2+ imaging, and behavioral analysis to understand the neural mechanisms of somatosensation. We also leverage human tissues to assess the translational relevance of findings made in animal models.

Publications

  • (McIlvried LA, Del Rosario JS, Pullen MY, Wangzhou A, Sheahan TD, Shepherd AJ, Slivicki RA, Lemen JA, Price TJ, Copits BA, Gereau RW 4th.) J Gen Physiol. 2025 Jan 06;157(1) PMID: 39688836 12/17/2024

  • (Sheahan TD, Warwick CA, Cui AY, Baranger DAA, Perry VJ, Smith KM, Manalo AP, Nguyen EK, Koerber HR, Ross SE.) Sci Adv. 2024 Sep 27;10(39):eadp6038 PMID: 39321286 PMCID: PMC11423883 09/25/2024

  • (Sheahan TD, Warwick CA, Cui AY, Baranger DAA, Perry VJ, Smith KM, Manalo AP, Nguyen EK, Koerber HR, Ross SE.) bioRxiv. 2023 Nov 08 PMID: 37873278 PMCID: PMC10592866 10/24/2023

  • (McIlvried LA, Del Rosario JS, Pullen MY, Wangzhou A, Sheahan TD, Shepherd AJ, Slivicki RA, Lemen JA, Price TJ, Copits BA, Gereau RW 4th.) bioRxiv. 2023 Jun 14 PMID: 37398430 PMCID: PMC10312743 07/03/2023

  • (Sheahan TD, Grewal A, Korthauer LE, Blumenthal EM.) PLoS One. 2023;18(12):e0295412 PMID: 38051756 PMCID: PMC10697589 12/06/2023

  • (Warwick C, Salsovic J, Hachisuka J, Smith KM, Sheahan TD, Chen H, Ibinson J, Koerber HR, Ross SE.) Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 03;13(1):5199 PMID: 36057681 PMCID: PMC9440908 09/04/2022

  • (Warwick C, Cassidy C, Hachisuka J, Wright MC, Baumbauer KM, Adelman PC, Lee KH, Smith KM, Sheahan TD, Ross SE, Koerber HR.) Pain. 2021 Jul 01;162(7):2120-2131 PMID: 34130311 PMCID: PMC8206522 06/16/2021

  • (Sheahan TD, Warwick CA, Fanien LG, Ross SE.) J Neurosci. 2020 Nov 11;40(46):8816-8830 PMID: 33051347 PMCID: PMC7659450 10/15/2020

  • (Snyder LM, Chiang MC, Loeza-Alcocer E, Omori Y, Hachisuka J, Sheahan TD, Gale JR, Adelman PC, Sypek EI, Fulton SA, Friedman RL, Wright MC, Duque MG, Lee YS, Hu Z, Huang H, Cai X, Meerschaert KA, Nagarajan V, Hirai T, Scherrer G, Kaplan DH, Porreca F, Davis BM, Gold MS, Koerber HR, Ross SE.) Neuron. 2018 Sep 19;99(6):1274-1288.e6 PMID: 30236284 PMCID: PMC6300132 09/22/2018

  • (Sheahan TD, Hachisuka J, Ross SE.) Neuron. 2018 Aug 08;99(3):421-422 PMID: 30092208 08/10/2018

  • (Shepherd AJ, Copits BA, Mickle AD, Karlsson P, Kadunganattil S, Haroutounian S, Tadinada SM, de Kloet AD, Valtcheva MV, McIlvried LA, Sheahan TD, Jain S, Ray PR, Usachev YM, Dussor G, Krause EG, Price TJ, Gereau RW 4th, Mohapatra DP.) J Neurosci. 2018 Aug 08;38(32):7032-7057 PMID: 29976627 PMCID: PMC6083458 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85051586513 07/07/2018

Publications of from the

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