Investigators

Summary

Dr. Davis is a Professor in the Departments of Neurobiology and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.  During his 35 years of running his own laboratory he as developed three main research programs. The first research program explores normal function of visceral afferents primarily in the colon, bladder and pancreas and how afferent function changes with disease. The second project uses optogenetics to study communication between colon sensory neurons, enteric neurons, interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC), colon epithelium and postganglionic sympathetic neurons with the goal of developing a comprehensive connectome. The third program employs a genetic mouse model of human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) to study the role of the nervous system in pancreatic cancer (Cancer Res. 2014, 74:1718) and was the first to show that sensory denervation of the pancreas can slow or halt development of tumors (PNAS 2016, 113:3078).  Dr. Jami Saloman, his collaborator, went on to show that depletion NGF could prevent metastasis in PDAC (Pancreas, 2018, 47:856). In separate studies his lab reported that sensory neurons express immune checkpoint proteins (J. Neurosci, 2020, 40:7216), and Dr. Salomon has shown that PDL1 signaling is present in sensory neurons and modulates responses to nociceptive stimuli (Brain, Behav and Immun. 2022, 106:233). The unifying theme of all of three projects is that studying any one cell system (e.g., neural, immune, vasculature) in isolation is unlikely to produce robust findings because these systems evolved together, in an integrated manner.