PETERSEN, ERIC

PhD

Assistant Professor

Biography

Eric earned his PhD in Neuroscience at Central Michigan University where he applied bioluminescent-optogenetic stimulation to treat spinal cord injury in rodent models as a non-invasive approach to neuronal stimulation. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in synthetic biology at Michigan State University where he developed various genetically encoded sensors that can be used to report neuronal activity based on detecting neurotransmitters. His research currently focuses on the continued development of tools using rational protein design and protein evolution that can be used to either report or control neuronal activity based on the presence of various neurotransmitters. He aims to apply these tools to study brain function in health and disease and to correct the underlying pathologies of various neurodegenerative diseases. In addition to neuroscience applications, he is working to develop various protein based biosensors and synthetic gene circuit based biosensors for a variety of biomedical and environmental applications including detection of small molecules for diagnostics and for detection of environmental toxins and contaminants. https://www.cmich.edu/academics/colleges/college-of-medicine/research/basic/petersen-lab