Biography
Richard Hume grew up in Youngstown Ohio, and Fair Lawn New Jersey. He was an undergraduate at Wesleyan University and got his Ph.D. at Stanford University. He did his postdoctoral training at Washington University School of Medicine. He has done sabbatical research at the Salk Institute, The University of Chicago and Columbia University
He served as Director of the University of Michigan Interdepartmental Neuroscience Ph.D. program from 1999-2003, as Chair of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from 2003-2008, and as Director of the Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience since 2013.
Areas of Interest
The majority of the work done within the Hume lab over the past 30 years has focused on the structure and function of ligand-gated ion channels. These molecules mediate rapid signaling from one neuron to the next, by opening ion-selective pores in the surface membrane in response to the binding of neurotransmitters released from the adjacent presynaptic terminal. The opening of these pores elicits ion flows that cause excitation or inhibition. When ligand-gated channels spend too much or too little time open, the brain cannot process information correctly. Furthermore, alterations in ligand-gated channel activity can result in overt neurological diseases, including epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases. For a number of years, the focus was on receptors for glutamate, the major excitatory transmitter in the mammalian brain. More recently, the focus was on P2X receptors, which are activated by extracellular ATP (adenosine 5′ phosphate), the same molecule that is the major energy source for cell metabolism. The most recent work has been done on ion channels within lysosomes that when mutated cause neurological disorders.
Published Articles or Reviews
- Li P, Hu M, Wang C, Feng X, Shao Z Yang Y Sahoo N, Gu M, Yang Y, Xiao S, Sah R, Cover TL, Chou J, Geha R, Benavides F, Hume RI and Xu H (2020) “LRRC8 family proteins within Lysosomes Regulate Cellular Osmoregulation and Enhance Cell Survival to Multiple Physiological Stresses” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117 (46), 29155-29165
- Hsu I, Linsley JW, Zhang, X, Varineau JE, Berkhoudt DA, Reid LE, Lum MC Orzel AM, Leflein A, Xu H, Collins CA Hume RI, Levitan ES and Kuwada JY (2020) “Stac Protein Regulates Release of Neuropeptides” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117 (47), 29914-29924
- Hsu I-U, Linsley JW, Reid LE, Hume RI, Leflein A and Kuwada JY (2020) Dstac Regulates Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Drosophila Body Wall Muscles. Front. Physiol. 11:573723.
- Hao Y, Waller TJ, Nye DM, Li J, Zhang Y, Hume RI, Rolls MM, Collins CA (2019) Degeneration of Injured Axons and Dendrites Requires Restraint of a Protective JNK Signaling Pathway by the Transmembrane Protein Raw. J Neurosci. 23;39(43):8457-8470.