Michael Raphael Tadross

Research Interests

Our goal is to bridge the gap between the study of brain as a computational device and the search for novel neuropathological treatments. We develop technologies to manipulate molecules, cells, and synapses in the brain, and deploy these reagents in mouse models of disease.

Bio

Dr. Tadross' lab develops technologies to rapidly deliver drugs to genetically defined subsets of cells in the brain. By using these reagents in mouse models of neuropsychiatric disease, his group is mapping how specific receptors on defined cells and synapses in the brain give rise to diverse neural computations and behaviors.  The approach leverages drugs currently in use to treat human neuropsychiatric disease, facilitating clinically relevant interpretation of the mapping effort.

He received his B.S. degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering at Rutgers University, an M.D.-Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and completed his postdoctoral study in Cellular Neuroscience at Stanford University. He began his independent research program as a fellow at the HHMI Janelia Research Campus.

Education

• Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University, 2009
• M.D. Johns Hopkins University, 2009

Positions

• Assistant Professor in Neurosurgery
• Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Courses Taught

• NEUROBIO 719: Concepts in Neuroscience I: Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology
• BME 791: Graduate Independent Study
• BME 590: Special Topics in Biomedical Engineering
• BME 494: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 244L: Quantitative Physiology with Biostatistical Applications
• BME 244L9: Quantitative Physiology with Biostatistical Applications

Publications

• Cammarata CM, Pei Y, Hu T, Shields BC, Lim SSX, Hawley T, et al. Behavioral state and stimulus strength regulate the role of somatostatin interneurons in stabilizing network activity. Cell Rep. 2025 Jul 22;44(7):115954.
• Lucantonio F, Roeglin J, Li S, Lu J, Shi A, Czerpaniak K, et al. Ketamine rescues anhedonia by cell-type- and input-specific adaptations in the nucleus accumbens. Neuron. 2025 May 7;113(9):1398-1412.e4.
• Wu JH, Koneru H, Ravenel JR, Sabath A, Roach JM, Lim SSX, et al. DISENTANGLING 3D ANIMAL POSE DYNAMICS WITH SCRUBBED CONDITIONAL LATENT VARIABLES. In: 13th International Conference on Learning Representations Iclr 2025. 2025. p. 44255u201382.
• Rou00dfmann K, Sun S, Olesen CH, Kowald M, Tapp E, Pabst U, et al. A one-step protocol to generate impermeable fluorescent HaloTag substrates for in situ live cell application and super-resolution imaging. bioRxiv. 2024 Sep 23;
• Burwell SCV, Yan H, Lim SSX, Shields BC, Tadross MR. Natural phasic inhibition of dopamine neurons signals cognitive rigidity. bioRxiv. 2024 Jul 13;
• Shields BC, Yan H, Lim SSX, Burwell SCV, Cammarata CM, Fleming EA, et al. DART.2: bidirectional synaptic pharmacology with thousandfold cellular specificity. Nat Methods. 2024 Jul;21(7):1288u201397.
• Fleming EA, Field GD, Tadross MR, Hull C. Local synaptic inhibition mediates cerebellar granule cell pattern separation and enables learned sensorimotor associations. Nat Neurosci. 2024 Apr;27(4):689u2013701.
• Weaver IA, Aryana Yousefzadeh S, Tadross MR. An open-source head-fixation and implant-protection system for mice. HardwareX. 2023 Mar;13:e00391.
• Weaver IA, Li AW, Shields BC, Tadross MR. An open-source transparent microelectrode array. J Neural Eng. 2022 Apr 13;19(2).
• Joffe ME, Maksymetz J, Luschinger JR, Dogra S, Ferranti AS, Luessen DJ, et al. Acute restraint stress redirects prefrontal cortex circuit function through mGlu5 receptor plasticity on somatostatin-expressing interneurons. Neuron. 2022 Mar 16;110(6):1068-1083.e5.
• Manz KM, Coleman BC, Grueter CA, Shields BC, Tadross MR, Grueter BA. Noradrenergic Signaling Disengages Feedforward Transmission in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell. J Neurosci. 2021 Apr 28;41(17):3752u201363.
• Gruber TD, Krishnamurthy C, Grimm JB, Tadross MR, Wysocki LM, Gartner ZJ, et al. Cell-Specific Chemical Delivery Using a Selective Nitroreductase-Nitroaryl Pair. ACS Chem Biol. 2018 Oct 19;13(10):2888u201396.
• Shields BC, Kahuno E, Kim C, Apostolides PF, Brown J, Lindo S, et al. Deconstructing behavioral neuropharmacology with cellular specificity. Science. 2017 Apr 7;356(6333).
• Li B, Tadross MR, Tsien RW. Sequential ionic and conformational signaling by calcium channels drives neuronal gene expression. Science. 2016 Feb 19;351(6275):863u20137.
• Tadross MR, Li B, Tsien RW. Dual Ionic and Conformational Ca(V)1.2 Dynamics Trigger CaMKII-mediated CREB Signaling. In: JOURNAL OF GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY. ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS; 2015. p. 15A-15A.
• Fosque BF, Sun Y, Dana H, Yang C-T, Ohyama T, Tadross MR, et al. Neural circuits. Labeling of active neural circuits in vivo with designed calcium integrators. Science. 2015 Feb 13;347(6223):755u201360.
• Tadross MR, Tsien RW, Yue DT. Ca2+ channel nanodomains boost local Ca2+ amplitude. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Sep 24;110(39):15794u20139.
• Bader PL, Faizi M, Kim LH, Owen SF, Tadross MR, Alfa RW, et al. Mouse model of Timothy syndrome recapitulates triad of autistic traits. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Sep 13;108(37):15432u20137.
• Tadross MR, Ben Johny M, Yue DT. Molecular endpoints of Ca2+/calmodulin- and voltage-dependent inactivation of Ca(v)1.3 channels. J Gen Physiol. 2010 Mar;135(3):197u2013215.
• Tadross MR, Yue DT. Systematic mapping of the state dependence of voltage- and Ca2+-dependent inactivation using simple open-channel measurements. J Gen Physiol. 2010 Mar;135(3):217u201327.
• Tadross MR, Park SA, Veeramani B, Yue DT. Robust approaches to quantitative ratiometric FRET imaging of CFP/YFP fluorophores under confocal microscopy. J Microsc. 2009 Jan;233(1):192u2013204.
• Tadross MR, Dick IE, Yue DT. Mechanism of local and global Ca2+ sensing by calmodulin in complex with a Ca2+ channel. Cell. 2008 Jun 27;133(7):1228u201340.
• Dick IE, Tadross MR, Liang H, Tay LH, Yang W, Yue DT. A modular switch for spatial Ca2+ selectivity in the calmodulin regulation of CaV channels. Nature. 2008 Feb 14;451(7180):830u20134.

In The News

• Drug Homing Method Helps Rethink Parkinsonu2019s Disease (Oct 22, 2018 | Duke Research Blog)