Welcome to the Grill Lab

Grill Lab

The Grill Lab’s overarching interest is in using in vivo proteomic and genetic approaches to understand how signaling influences development and function of the nervous system.

Progress on these research directions is essential to understanding how the nervous system is built and modulated. Ultimately, we strive to identify new molecular targets for treating neurodevelopmental disorders, neurodegenerative disease and opioid addiction/withdrawal.

Our work is made possible in part by a generous gift in honor of Timothy Jackson.

Projects

Proteomic and Genetic Insight Into Axon Termination, Synapse Maintenance and Autophagy

We are leading efforts to understand a conserved signaling network required for both axon termination and synapse maintenance.

Using Forward Genetics to Identify Regulators of Opioid Sensitivity and Tolerance

We have spent the past decade pioneering an innovative new line of investigation that aims to understand how u-opioid receptor (MOR) signaling, sensitivity and tolerance are regulated.

Regulation of Inhibitory GABA Neuron Function

Our interest in HUWE1 is driven on two levels. 1) Better understanding how ubiquitin ligase activity shapes inhibitory GABA neuron function. 2) Strong, growing evidence that human genetic changes that reduce or increase HUWE1 function result in syndromic and non-syndromic forms of intellectual disability.

Latest News

Sleuthing the Source of a New Neurodevelopmental Disorder

Oct. 6, 2022 – Dr. Brock Grill and his lab members in the Center for Integrative Brain Research collaborated with an international research team to identify the molecular genetic cause of a new neurodevelopmental disorder.

Identifying genetic regulators of opioid tolerance

Aug. 18, 2022 - Nature Neuroscience published new insights by SCRI’s Dr. Brock Grill and UF Scripps Biomedical Research’s Dr. Kirill Martemyanov into a molecular genetic mechanism that affects tolerance at the behavioral level.

Join Us!

We are always recruiting postdocs and graduate students. Contact the Grill Lab.