David L. Farrens, Ph.D.

  • Professor of Chemical Physiology and Biochemistry, School of Medicine
  • Neuroscience Graduate Program, School of Medicine
  • Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Farrens obtained his undergraduate (1985) and Ph.D. (1991) in chemistry from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  His graduate work involved physical and biochemical studies of the plant photoreceptor phytochrome (carried out under the supervision of Dr P.-S. Song), followed by similar work at RIKEN in Tokyo with Dr. Furuya.   He then moved to MIT to work on the visual photoreceptor rhodopsin with Dr H. G. Khorana (1992–1995), and then at UCLA with DrW. L. Hubbell (1996).
  
In his laboratory at OHSU, Dr. Farrens (and colleagues) develop and use novel biochemical and physical methods to identify common structural mechanisms involved in the activation and attenuation of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs).  Their work focuses primarily on rhodopsin and the cannabinoid receptor CB1, studying how these proteins interact with their affiliate signaling partners (G-proteins, arrestins and kinases).

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • B.S., 1985, University of Nebraska
    • Ph.D., 1991, University of Nebraska

  • Fellowship

    • NRSA NIH Fellowship - 1993-1995

Memberships and associations:

  • NIH study section Biology and Diseases of the Posterior Eye [BDPE] (ad hoc reviewer) - 2007, 2008, 2010
  • Molecular and Integrative Signal Transduction [MIST] (ad hoc reviewer) - 2010, 2016
  • Biology of the Visual System [BVS] (permanent study section member) - 2011-2015
  • Biophysical Society member
  • International Conference on Retinal Proteins - Advisory Committee

Areas of interest

  • Photobiology/photochemistry
  • Spectroscopy
  • Molecular pharmacology
  • G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs)

Additional information

Honors and awards

  • National Merit Scholarship - 1980
  • Regents Scholarship, University of Nebraska - 1980
  • Upson Scholar, University of Nebraska - 1990
  • National Science Foundation Travel Award - 1990
  • American Society for Photobiology Student Travel Award - 1990
  • Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Univ. Nebraska Department of Chemistry - 1990
  • NIH Training Grant - 1992
  • Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award - Graduate Program, OHSU - 2001-2002
  • Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award - Graduate Program, OHSU - 2003-2004
  • Royal Society of Chemistry (U.K.) Travel Award - 2006
  • Faculty Excellence in Education Award, OHSU - 2011-2012

Publications

Publications

  • A rapid, tag-free way to purify functional GPCRs

    Journal of Biological Chemistry
    1. Anthony D. Shumate
    2. David L. Farrens

  • Functional independence of endogenous µ-and δ-opioid receptors co-expressed in cholinergic interneurons

    eLife
    1. Seksiri Arttamangkul
    2. Emily J. Platt
    3. James Carroll
    4. David L. Farrens

  • Functional integrity of membrane protein rhodopsin solubilized by styrene-maleic acid copolymer

    Biophysical Journal
    1. Stephanie G. Pitch
    2. Weekie Yao
    3. Istvan Szundi
    4. Jonathan Fay
    5. Eefei Chen
    6. Anthony Shumate
    7. David S. Kliger
    8. David L. Farrens

  • Styrene-maleic acid copolymer effects on the function of the GPCR rhodopsin in lipid nanoparticles

    Biophysical Journal
    1. Istvan Szundi
    2. Stephanie G. Pitch
    3. Eefei Chen
    4. David L. Farrens
    5. David S. Kliger

  • Novel fluorescent GPCR biosensor detects retinal equilibrium binding to opsin and active G protein and arrestin signaling conformations

    Journal of Biological Chemistry
    1. Christopher T. Schafer
    2. Anthony Shumate
    3. David L. Farrens

  • Structure of a Signaling Cannabinoid Receptor 1-G Protein Complex

    Cell
    1. Kaavya Krishna Kumar
    2. Moran Shalev-Benami
    3. Michael J. Robertson
    4. Hongli Hu
    5. Samuel D. Banister
    6. Scott A. Hollingsworth
    7. Naomi R. Latorraca
    8. Hideaki E. Kato
    9. Daniel Hilger
    10. Shoji Maeda
    11. William I. Weis
    12. David L. Farrens
    13. Ron O. Dror
    14. Sanjay V. Malhotra
    15. Brian K. Kobilka
    16. Georgios Skiniotis

  • Visualizing endogenous opioid receptors in living neurons using ligand-directed chemistry

    eLife
    1. Seksiri Arttamangkul
    2. Andrew Plazek
    3. Emily J. Platt
    4. Haihong Jin
    5. Thomas F. Murray
    6. William T. Birdsong
    7. Kenner C. Rice
    8. David L. Farrens
    9. John T. Williams

  • Single Proteoliposome High-Content Analysis Reveals Differences in the Homo-Oligomerization of GPCRs

    Biophysical Journal
    1. Samuel M. Walsh
    2. Signe Mathiasen
    3. Sune M. Christensen
    4. Jonathan F. Fay
    5. Christopher King
    6. Davide Provasi
    7. Ernesto Borrero
    8. Søren G.F. Rasmussen
    9. Juan Jose Fung
    10. Marta Filizola
    11. Kalina Hristova
    12. Brian Kobilka
    13. David L. Farrens
    14. Dimitrios Stamou

  • Biosensor reveals multiple sources for mitochondrial NAD+

    Science
    1. Xiaolu A. Cambronne
    2. Melissa L. Stewart
    3. Dongho Kim
    4. Amber M. Jones-Brunette
    5. Rory K. Morgan
    6. David L. Farrens
    7. Michael S. Cohen
    8. Richard H. Goodman

  • Decay of an active GPCR

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    1. Christopher T. Schafer
    2. Jonathan F. Fay
    3. Jay M. Janz
    4. David L. Farrens

  • Evidence that the Rhodopsin Kinase (GRK1) N-Terminus and the Transducin Gα C-Terminus Interact with the Same "hydrophobic Patch" on Rhodopsin TM5

    Biochemistry
    1. Amber M. Jones Brunette
    2. Abhinav Sinha
    3. Larry David
    4. David L. Farrens

  • Conformational selection and equilibrium governs the ability of retinals to bind opsin

    Journal of Biological Chemistry
    1. Christopher T. Schafer
    2. David L. Farrens

  • Retinal attachment instability is diversified among mammalian melanopsins

    Journal of Biological Chemistry
    1. Hisao Tsukamoto
    2. Yoshihiro Kubo
    3. David L. Farrens
    4. Mitsumasa Koyanagi
    5. Akihisa Terakita
    6. Yuji Furutani

  • Structural dynamics and energetics underlying allosteric inactivation of the cannabinoid receptor CB1

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    1. Jonathan F. Fay
    2. David L. Farrens

  • The Enzymatic Activity of Lipases Correlates with Polarity-Induced Conformational Changes

    Biochemistry
    1. Jakob Skjold-Jørgensen
    2. Vikram K. Bhatia
    3. Jesper Vind
    4. Allan Svendsen
    5. Morten J. Bjerrum
    6. David Farrens

  • Distance mapping in proteins using fluorescence spectroscopy

    Biochemistry
    1. Amber M. Jones Brunette
    2. David L. Farrens

  • Nanoscale high-content analysis using compositional heterogeneities of single proteoliposomes

    Nature Methods
    1. Signe Mathiasen
    2. Sune M. Christensen
    3. Juan José Fung
    4. Søren G.F. Rasmussen
    5. Jonathan F. Fay
    6. Sune K. Jorgensen
    7. Salome Veshaguri
    8. David L. Farrens
    9. Maria Kiskowski
    10. Brian Kobilka
    11. Dimitrios Stamou

  • Rhodopsin TM6 can interact with two separate and distinct sites on arrestin

    Biochemistry
    1. Abhinav Sinha
    2. Amber M. Jones Brunette
    3. Jonathan F. Fay
    4. Christopher T. Schafer
    5. David L. Farrens

  • A constitutively activating mutation alters the dynamics and energetics of a key conformational change in a ligand-free G protein-coupled receptor

    Journal of Biological Chemistry
    1. Hisao Tsukamoto
    2. David L. Farrens

  • The membrane proximal region of the cannabinoid receptor CB1 N-terminus can allosterically modulate ligand affinity

    Biochemistry
    1. Jonathan F. Fay
    2. David L. Farrens

  • A key agonist-induced conformational change in the cannabinoid receptor CB1 is blocked by the allosteric ligand Org 27569

    Journal of Biological Chemistry
    1. Jonathan F. Fay
    2. David L. Farrens

  • Contributions of H G Khorana to understanding transmembrane signal transduction

    Resonance
    1. David L. Farrens
    2. Thomas P. Sakmar

  • Rhodopsin in nanodiscs has native membrane-like photointermediates

    Biochemistry
    1. Hisao Tsukamoto
    2. Istvan Szundi
    3. James W. Lewis
    4. David L. Farrens
    5. David S. Kliger

  • Distance mapping in proteins using fluorescence spectroscopy

    Biochemistry
    1. Steven E. Mansoor
    2. Mark A. Dewitt
    3. David L. Farrens

  • Monomeric rhodopsin is the minimal functional unit required for arrestin binding

    Journal of molecular biology
    1. Hisao Tsukamoto
    2. Abhinav Sinha
    3. Mark DeWitt
    4. David L. Farrens

  • What site-directed labeling studies tell us about the mechanism of rhodopsin activation and G-protein binding

    Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences
    1. David L. Farrens

  • The magnitude of the light-induced conformational change in different rhodopsins correlates with their ability to activate G proteins

    Journal of Biological Chemistry
    1. Hisao Tsukamoto
    2. David L. Farrens
    3. Mitsumasa Koyanagi
    4. Akihisa Terakita