Patrick Houlihan

The final frontier of ion channel discovery is organellar membranes. As an electrophysiology specialist and skilled cell biologist, I am uniquely adept at unraveling the mysteries of intracellular physiology and cell metabolism.

• Trainee, Postdoctoral Training in Research Methods in Pediatric Heart Disease, 07/01/14, 06/30/16
• Trainee, Postdoctoral Training in Developmental Neurology, 07/01/12, 06/30/14
• American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship, 07/01/10, 06/30/11
• Trainee, Predoctoral Training in Pharmacological Sciences, 07/01/07, 06/30/09
• ACS Graduating Senior in Chemistry, 2006
• ACS Analytical Undergraduate Chemist of the Year, 2005

• The Inner Mitochondrial Anion Current is Mediated by ABCB7 to Coordinate Iron Metabolism and Complex II Function. Houlihan, P.R., Benedetti, L., Miller, A.N., Ludlow, A.V., Lippincott-Schwartz, J., and Clapham, D.E., Currently in revision, 2025
• Periodic ER-plasma membrane junctions support long-range Ca2+ signal integration in dendrites. Benedetti, L., Fan, R., Weigel, A.V., Moore, A.S., Houlihan, P.R., Kittisopikul, M., Park, G., Petruncio, A., Hubbard, P.M., Pang, S., Xu, C.S., Hess, H.F., Saalfeld, S., Rangaraju, V., Clapham, D.E., De Camilli, P., Ryan, T.A. and Lippincott-Schwartz, J., Cell, 188, 1-17, 2025
• Plasticity-induced actin polymerization in the dendritic shaft regulates intracellular AMPA receptor trafficking. Wong, V.C., Houlihan, P.R., Liu, H., Walpita, D., DeSantis, M.C., Liu, Z. and O'Shea, E.K., Elife, 13, e80622, 2024
• The SARS-CoV-2 accessory protein Orf3a is not an ion channel, but does interact with trafficking proteins., Houlihan, P.R., Miller, A.N, Matamala, E., Cabezas-Bratesco, D., Lee, G.Y, Cristofori-Armstrong, B., Dilan, T.L, Sanchez-Martinez, S., Matthies, D., Yan, R., Yu, Z., Ren, D., Brauchi, S.E. and Clapham, D.E., Elife, 12, e84477, 2023
• Employing NaChBac for cryo-EM analysis of toxin action on voltage-gated Na+ channels in nanodisc. Gao, S., Valinsky W.C., On, N.C., Houlihan, P.R., Qu, Q., Liu, L., Pan, X., Clapham, D.E. and Yan, N., Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 117, 25, 14187-14193, 2020
• Mitochondrial cardiomyopathies feature increased uptake and diminished efflux of mitochondrial calcium. Houlihan, P.R., Sommakia, S., Deane, S.S., Simcox, J.A., Torres, N.S., Jeong, M.Y., Winge, D.R., Villanueva, C.J. and Chaudhuri, D., Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, 113, 22-32, 2017
• Leucine-rich repeat containing 8A (LRRC8A)-dependent volume-regulated anion channel activity is dispensable for T-cell development and function., Platt, C.D., Chou, J., Houlihan, P.R., Badran, Y.R., Kumar, Lalit., Bainter, W., Polianai, P.L., Perez, C.J., Dent, S.Y.R., Clapham, D.E., Benavides, F., and Geha, R.S., Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 140, 6, 1651-1659, 2017
• Mitochondria and plasma membrane Ca2+ -ATPase (PMCA) control presynaptic clearance in capsaicin-sensitive rat sensory neurons., Shutov, L.P., Kim M.-S., Houlihan P.R. and Usachev Y.M., Journal of Physiology, 591, 10, 2443-2462, 2013
• Distinct activation properties of Ca2+/calcineurin-dependent transcription factors NFATc3 and NFATc4 in neurons., Ulrich, J. D., Kim M.-S., Houlihan P.R., Shutov L.P., Mohapatra D.P., Strack S. and Usachev Y.M., Journal of Biological Chemistry, 287, 37594-37609, 2012

• Janelia Association of Research Scientists early career mentoring program, Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA, 2022, Prepared and led small group discussions and provided one-on-one mentoring for undergraduate and technician level employees.
• Laboratory Instructor, MBL Physiology Summer Course Summer 2018 Woods Hole Marine Biology Institute. Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Program directors: Dr. Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Dr. Wallace Marshall, and Dr. Rob Philips. Provided hands on training and education regarding the practice and theory of electrophysiology in the context of cell biology.
• Dr. Aindrila Saha, Janelia Research Campus Summer Undergraduate Program, Ashburn, VA, Summer 2019, Mentored Aindrila in assembling and denoising a patch-clamp electrophysiology rig.
• Dr. Clarice Aiello, Summer 2018, Mentored Clarice in manipulating the conductance of the calcium activated BK potassium channel.
• Nathan Bortolini, DDS, Fall 2009, Mentored Nathan during his study of the effects of Drp1 phosphorylation on neuronal susceptibility.

• David E. Clapham, MD, PhD, Aldo R. Castañeda Professor of Cardiovascular Research and Professor emeritus of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, HHMI Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA, claphamd@hhmi.org, david_clapham@hms.harvard.edu
• Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, PhD, Head, 4D Cellular Physiology, HHMI Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, VA, lippincottschwartzj@janelia.hhmi.org, sobieskik@janelia.hhmi.org
• Dipayan Chaudhuri, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Adjunct Associate Professor Biochemistry at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, dipayan.chaudhuri@hsc.utah.edu
• Yuriy M. Usachev, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, yuriy-usachev@uiowa.edu