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Associate Scientist

Posted on: 2010-03-05

E d u c a t i o n

 

2002 – 2008            University of California, San Diego, CA

                                   Ph.D. Neurosciences

                                   Thesis: G-Protein Mediated Trafficking of

                                    Inwardly Rectifying Potassium Channels

 

1997 – 2002            University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

                                   B.S. Psychology, magna cum laude

                                   (minors: Zoology & Mathematics)

                        

T e c h n i c a l    S k i l l s

Cell Culture

  • Maintenance and transfection of multiple mammalian cell lines (including HEK293, CHO-K1, 1321N1, RH7777, neuronal-like PC12 cells)

Molecular biology & Biochemistry

  • Standard DNA manipulation, including preparation, cloning, site-directed mutagenesis, PCR, etc
  • SDS-PAGE, Western blotting
  • Immunoprecipitation, preparation of biontinylated membrane proteins
  • In vitro protein binding assay,expression & purification of fusion proteins

Signaling assays

  • FLIPR intracellular calcium mobilization assays
  • Homogenous time-resolved fluorescence (HTRF) assays of IP-one and cAMP
  • ELISA
  • Analysis of dose-response curves, pharmacological profiles of GPCRs & ion channels, assays in 384- and 96-well formats

Imaging

  • Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF)
  • Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET)
    • Confocal microscopy, Immunofluorescence
    • Flow cytometry, FACS

Electrophysiology

  • Whole-cell voltage-clamp patch clamp & cell-attached single channel recordings
    • Analysis of EEG, EMG & EOG for polysomnographic studies

Computer Skills

  • Proficient with MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat and Photoshop
  • Proficient with EndNote, NIH ImageJ, Axon pCLAMP, Graphpad Prism

 

W o r k   E x p e r i e n c e

 

2009 – 2010: Associate Scientist, Multispan, Inc

 

  • Quality Control, Cell Line Testing & Validation, and Customer Profiling Projects
  • Assayed surface expression & function of cell lines stably expressing GPCRs for QC purposes
  • Directly supervised one RA in other QC-related duties including RT-PCR and mycoplasma testing.
  • Managed and maintained 30 or more cell lines at any given time.  Oversaw QC of 80+ cell lines. 
  • Performed profiling studies of customer compounds for transient or stably-expressed GPCRs and prepared customer reports.
  • Performed molecular biology duties related to creating GPCR cDNA library in proprietary expression vectors for stable cell line development.

 

 

2002 – 2008:    Graduate student

                        Dissertation Advisor: Paul A. Slesinger, Ph.D., Salk Institute for Biological Studies

 

  • — Dimerization of GABAB and muscarinic receptors Demonstrated a novel, direct association of GABAB R2 subunits with m2 muscarinic receptors, which rescues surface expression & function of m2 receptors after agonist-induced desensitization
  • — Co-regulation of GPCRs and potassium channels Showed that acetylcholine endogenously released from NGF-treated PC12 cells acts on muscarinic receptors, downregulating surface expression of both m2 receptors and associated Kir3 (GIRK) channels as a complex. 
  • — Specific association of RGS proteins with Kir3 channels                                                   Established that regulator of G-protein signaling protein 2 (RGS2) selectively associates with Kir3.3 but not Kir3.2, suggesting that subunit expression can determine the G-protein coupling & pharmacological profile.
  • — Small GTPase Rac1 regulates cardiac Kir2.1 channels Demonstrated that Rac1 acts as a novel regulator of surface expression for the cardiac potassium channel Kir2.1. For these studies, my advisor was S.V. Penelope Jones, Ph.D., at UCSD.

 

2000 – 2002:     Undergraduate Researcher

                        PI: Michael J. Harnish, Ph.D., Lynn Health Science Institute, Oklahoma City, OK

  • Analyzed PSG & statistical data for clinical studies of IBS & insomnia patients and ADHD research patients.

 

P u b l i c a t i o n s

 

Papers:

Boyer SB & PA Slesinger.  Probing Novel GPCR Interactions Using a Combination of FRET and TIRF. Invited article for Communicatie & Integrative Biology – submitted.

 

Boyer SB, Clancy SM, Terunuma M, Revilla-Sanchez R, Thomas SM, Moss SJ, Slesinger PA. (2009). Direct interaction of GABAB receptors with m2 muscarinic receptors rescues muscarinic signaling.             J Neurosci 29(50):15796-809.

 

Boyer SB, Slesinger PA, & SVP Jones (2008).  Regulation of Kir2.1 channels by the Rho-GTPase, Rac1.  J Cell Phys 218(2):385-393.

 

Labouebe G, Lomazzi M, Cruz HG, Creton C, Lujan R, Li M, Yanagawa Y, Obata K, Watanabe M, Wickman K, Boyer SB, Slesinger PA, & C Luscher (2007).  RGS2 modulates coupling between GABA(B) receptors and GIRK channels in dopamine neurons of the ventral tegmental area. Nat Neurosci 10(12):1559-68.

 

Clancy SM, Boyer SB & PA Slesinger (2007).  Coregulation of natively expressed pertussis toxin-sensitive muscarinic receptors with G-protein-activated potassium channels. J Neurosci 27(24):6388-99.

 

Abstracts:

Boyer SB, Clancy SM, & PA Slesinger. (2007) GABAB receptors modulate muscarinic receptor trafficking in PC12 cells.  37th Society for Neuroscience.

 

Boyer SB, Clancy SM, & PA Slesinger. (2007) GABAB Receptors Modulate Muscarinic Receptor Signaling to GIRK Channels.  51st Biophysical Society Meeting.

 

Boyer SB, & SVP Jones. (2005) Differential Regulation of Kir2 Subunits by the Rho GTPases. Program No.609.3. 35th Society for Neuroscience.

 

Harnish MJ, Boyer SB, Kukas L, Mason P, Bowles AM, Orr WC. (2002) Symptoms Of Sleep Disorders In Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). 16th Associated Professional Sleep Societies Meeting.

 

References available upon request.