Contact Info:tykockin@msu.edu

Research Experience

• January 2007-Present:  Graduate student in the lab of DR. Stephanie Watts, researching signaling pathways that mediate responses to endothelin receptor stimulation in arteries and veins.

• December 2006-September 2007:  Research Assistant in the lab of Dr. Stephanie Watts, Michigan State University.  Using isometric contractility recording, immunohistochemistry, and calcium fluorometry, investigated the role of different calcium channels in regulating responses to ET-1 in rat aorta and vena cava.  Also investigated the effects of pancreatitis-associated protein (PAP) on contractile responses to agonists in rat aorta and vena cava.  Developed methods for mechanically denuding vena cava endothelium, and verifying removal using immunohistochemical staining.
  
  
• April 2006-December 2006: Research Assistant in the lab of Dr. William Jackson, Michigan State University.  Investigated calcium-mediated smooth muscle contraction and relaxation in hamster cremaster arterioles, using cannulated vessels and FURA2-AM ratiometric photometry.

Committees/Organizations
Member:

• American Heart Association
• American Physiological Society
• American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

President: Lyman Briggs College Alumni Association

Student Representative: Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology Faculty Committee

First-year Student Representative: PHM/TOX Class Council

Awards/Recognition

July, 2007:  Travel Award, 6th Hypertension Summer School
June, 2008:  Session Moderator, 35th Annual Pharmacology Research Colloquium

Selected Publications/Abstracts

• Erika M. Boerman, Nathan R. Tykocki and William F. Jackson.  "Ryanodine Receptors and Calcium Activated K+ Channels are Not Coupled in the Microcirculation."  Council on High Blood Pressure Research 2007 (Tuscon, AZ)
• Nathan R. Tykocki, William F. Jackson, and Stephanie Watts.  "Do Different Calcium ENtry Mechanisms Mediate ENdothelin-1-induced Contraction of Rat Aorta and Vena Cava?"  Experimental Biology 2008 (San Diego, CA)
• Nathan R. Tykocki, William F. Jackson, and Stephanie Watts.  "The Complex Roles of ETB Receptors in Mediating Venous Tone."  Council on High Blood Pressure Research 2008 (Atlanta, GA)