B.S., California State University, Los Angeles Ph.D., Cornell University Postdoc, Cornell University

Electron spin resonance; nuclear magnetic resonance, melanocortin receptor signaling, agouti and agouti-related proteins, prions, solid phase protein synthesis

We use biophysical methods to study neurological proteins, their cofactors and how misregulation contributes to disease.

Ghamari-Langroudi M, Digby GJ, Sebag JA, Millhauser GL, Palomino R, Matthews R, Gillyard T, Panaro BL, Tough IR, Cox HM, Denton JS, Cone RD G-protein-independent coupling of MC4R to Kir7.1 in hypothalamic neurons. 2015 Nature Jan 19.

McDonald AJ, Millhauser GL. PrP overdrive: Does inhibition of α-cleavage contribute to PrPC toxicity and prion disease? Prion. 2014 Apr 10;8(2).

Spevacek AR, Evans EG, Miller JL, Meyer HC, Pelton JG, Millhauser GL. Zinc drives a tertiary fold in the prion protein with familial disease mutation sites at the interface. Structure. 2013 Feb 5;21(2):236-46.

Ersoy BA, Pardo L, Zhang S, Thompson DA, Millhauser G, Govaerts C, Vaisse C. Mechanism of N-terminal modulation of activity at the melanocortin-4 receptor GPCR. Nat Chem Biol. 2012 Jun 24

Madonna ME, Schurdak J, Yang YK, Benoit S, Millhauser GL. Agouti-related protein segments outside of the receptor binding core are required for enhanced short- and long-term feeding stimulation. ACS Chem Biol. 2012 Feb 17;7(2):395-402.

Liu L, Jiang D, McDonald A, Hao Y, Millhauser GL, Zhou F., Copper redox cycling in the prion protein depends critically on binding mode. J Am Chem Soc. 2011 133(31):12229-37.

Levitan K, Chereau D, Cohen SI, Knowles TP, Dobson CM, Fink AL, Anderson JP, Goldstein JM, Millhauser GL., Conserved C-Terminal Charge Exerts a Profound Influence on the Aggregation Rate of α-Synuclein, J Mol Biol. 2011 411(2):329-33.

Patel MP, Cribb Fabersunne CS, Yang YK, Kaelin CB, Barsh GS, Millhauser GL., Loop-swapped chimeras of the agouti-related protein and the agouti signaling protein identify contacts required for melanocortin 1 receptor selectivity and antagonism. J Mol Biol. 2010 404(1):45-55.

Stevens DJ, Walter ED, Rodríguez A, Draper D, Davies P, Brown DR, Millhauser GL., Early onset prion disease from octarepeat expansion correlates with copper binding properties. PLoS Pathog. 2009 Apr;5(4):e1000390.

Walter ED, Stevens DJ, Visconte MP, Millhauser GL., The prion protein is a combined zinc and copper binding protein: Zn2+ alters the distribution of Cu2+ coordination modes. J Am Chem Soc. 2007 129(50):15440-1.

Candille SI, Kaelin CB, Cattanach BM, Yu B, Thompson DA, Nix MA, Kerns JA, Schmutz SM, Millhauser GL, Barsh GS., A beta-defensin mutation causes black coat color in domestic dogs. Science. 2007 318(5855):1418-23.