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Neuroscience

Michael Fine

Affiliation: Neuroscience
Visiting Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
My background inside and outside of academia has allowed me to bring together unique aspects of neurobiology, cell physiology, membrane biophysics and cell engineering. As a graduate and research fellow, I developed electrophysiological methods monitoring real-time changes to cell surface area using capacitive recordings combined with live-cell high resolution confocal imaging of the cell surface. This uncovered unique forms of lipid-driven membrane internalization, or endocytosis, as well as new form of membrane expansion.  Unlike exocytosis, where small vesicles inside the cell fuse to the surface bringing cargo and expanding the cell surface, we identified a form of fast membrane expansion that does not rely on new vesicles to be recruited to the cell surface. I have continued my focus on membrane biology to include moderate scale drug screening platforms for ion channels and transporters as well as the cryo-EM structural and functional studies of TRP ion channels and lysosomal transporters.  Recently, I have studied the impact of mechanosensitive ion channels on membrane physiology which may improve our understanding of the stem cell differentiation, cellular wound response, migration and neuro-oncological disorders. My passion for teaching and science lies in expanding our understanding of cell membranes from neurons to cardiomyocytes, immune cells and stem cells.
Michael Fine headshot

Education

  • Post-Doc, University of Bern, Switzerland
  • PhD, UT Southwestern Medical Center
  • BSc., University of Texas at Dallas
(207) 725-3000