Robert T. Dirksen, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Phone Numbers

Office: (585) 275-4824

Fax: (585) 273-2652

Research Labs

Lab: (585) 273-2170

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Locations

University of Rochester Medical Center
School of Medicine and Dentistry
601 Elmwood Ave, Box 711
Rochester, NY 14642

Faculty Appointments

Professor - Department of Pharmacology and Physiology (SMD)
Chair - Department of Pharmacology and Physiology (SMD)
Lewis Pratt Ross Professorship of Pharmacology and Physiology - Department of Pharmacology and Physiology (SMD)

Biography

Research

Dr. Dirksen directs a multi-disciplinary research program focused on elucidating disease mechanisms and advancing treatment for muscular dystrophy and heart disease. The laboratory investigates the pathophysiological mechanisms by which defects in the proper control of intracellular calcium signaling lead to muscle dysfunction and disease. Current projects involve elucidating the cellular mechanisms by which muscle function is controlled by proteins involved in coordinating: 1) excitation-contraction coupling, 2) store-operated calcium entry, and 3) mitochondrial calcium uptake and energy production, as well as 4) the molecular mechanisms for skeletal and cardiac muscle dysfunction in myotonic dystrophy.

Credentials

Education

1985
BS | University of Notre Dame
Biology

1988
MS | University of Rochester
Pharmacology

1991
PhD | University of Rochester
Pharmacology

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

1991 - 1996
Postdoctoral Fellow, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO (Mentor: Kurt G. Beam, Ph. D.)

Awards

2015
Chair
Sponsor: Muscle: Excitation-Contraction Coupling Gordon Conference

2012
Vice-Chair
Sponsor: Muscle: Excitation-Contraction Coupling Gordon Conference

2002
Graduate Student Society Faculty Mentoring Award

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Publications

Journal Articles

1/2018
Auerbach DS, Biton Y, Polonsky B, McNitt S, Gross RA, Dirksen RT, Moss AJ. "Risk of cardiac events in Long QT syndrome patients when taking antiseizure medications." Translational research : the journal of laboratory and clinical medicine.. 2018 Jan 0; 191:81-92.e7. Epub 2017 Oct 20.

1/10/2017
Linsley JW, Hsu IU, Groom L, Yarotskyy V, Lavorato M, Horstick EJ, Linsley D, Wang W, Franzini-Armstrong C, Dirksen RT, Kuwada JY. "Congenital myopathy results from misregulation of a muscle Ca2+ channel by mutant Stac3." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.. 2017 Jan 10; 114(2):E228-E236. Epub 2016 Dec 21.

1/2017
Skov M, Dirksen RT. "Trojan triplets: RNA-based pathomechanisms for muscle dysfunction in Huntington's disease." The Journal of general physiology.. 2017 Jan 0; 149(1):49-53. Epub 2016 Dec 09.

Books & Chapters

2006
Chapter Title: Malignant hyperthermia Susceptibility is: GeneReviews at GeneTests.
Book Title: Medical Genetics Information Resource [database online]
Author List: Rosenberg, H; and Dirksen, RT
Published By: University of Washington2006 in Seattle

2005
Chapter Title: Pathophysiology of muscle disorders linked to mutations in the skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor.
Book Title: Ryanodine Receptors: Structure, Function and Dysfunction in Clinical Disease
Author List: Dirksen RT and Avila G
Edited By: XH Wehrens and AR Marks
Published By: Springer2005

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