Michael Raphael Tadross

Research Themes

Bioelectric Engineering, Drug & Gene Delivery, Neural Engineering, Synthetic & Systems Biology

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

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

Positions

• Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
• Assistant Professor in Neurobiology

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 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 244L: Quantitative Physiology with Biostatistical Applications
• BME 244L9: Quantitative Physiology with Biostatistical Applications

Publications

• Roßmann 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):1288–97.
• Fleming EA, Field GD, Tadross MR, Hull C. Local synaptic inhibition mediates cerebellar granule cell pattern separation and enables learned sensorimotor associations. Nature neuroscience. 2024 Apr;27(4):689–701.
• 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. Journal of neural engineering. 2022 Apr;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;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. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 2021 Apr;41(17):3752–63.
• 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 chemical biology. 2018 Oct;13(10):2888–96.
• Shields BC, Kahuno E, Kim C, Apostolides PF, Brown J, Lindo S, et al. Deconstructing behavioral neuropharmacology with cellular specificity. Science (New York, NY). 2017 Apr;356(6333):eaaj2161.
• Li B, Tadross MR, Tsien RW. Sequential ionic and conformational signaling by calcium channels drives neuronal gene expression. Science (New York, NY). 2016 Feb;351(6275):863–7.
• 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 (New York, NY). 2015 Feb;347(6223):755–60.
• Tadross MR, Tsien RW, Yue DT. Ca2+ channel nanodomains boost local Ca2+ amplitude. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2013 Sep;110(39):15794–9.
• Bader PL, Faizi M, Kim LH, Owen SF, Tadross MR, Alfa RW, et al. Mouse model of Timothy syndrome recapitulates triad of autistic traits. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2011 Sep;108(37):15432–7.
• Tadross MR, Ben Johny M, Yue DT. Molecular endpoints of Ca2+/calmodulin- and voltage-dependent inactivation of Ca(v)1.3 channels. The Journal of general physiology. 2010 Mar;135(3):197–215.
• Tadross MR, Yue DT. Systematic mapping of the state dependence of voltage- and Ca2+-dependent inactivation using simple open-channel measurements. The Journal of general physiology. 2010 Mar;135(3):217–27.
• Tadross MR, Park SA, Veeramani B, Yue DT. Robust approaches to quantitative ratiometric FRET imaging of CFP/YFP fluorophores under confocal microscopy. Journal of microscopy. 2009 Jan;233(1):192–204.
• Tadross MR, Dick IE, Yue DT. Mechanism of local and global Ca2+ sensing by calmodulin in complex with a Ca2+ channel. Cell. 2008 Jun;133(7):1228–40.
• 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;451(7180):830–4.

In The News

• Drug Homing Method Helps Rethink Parkinson’s Disease (Oct 22, 2018 | Duke Research Blog)
• In Two NIH Innovator Awards, Yiyang Gong and Michael Tadross Target the Nuanced Behaviors of Neurons (Oct 5, 2018 | Pratt School of Engineering)