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Dixon J. Woodbury Physiology & Developmental Biology Email: Dixon_Woodbury@byu.edu 549A WIDB Professor
Send comments to Dr. Woodbury . BRIEF BIO: Dr. Woodbury is associate director of the BYU Neuroscience Center and part of the Biophysics Groups. He currently serves as chair of the PDBio graduate committee. (Graduate Information). Before coming to BYU, Dr. Woodbury spent 4 years at Brandies University (MA) and 11 years at Wayne State Medical School (Detroit, MI). General Research Focus: Cellular and molecular physiology, focusing on membrane biophysics, particularly vesicle/membrane fusion and its regulation by SNARE proteins. Additional details are given below. Teaching: Recent courses taught are listed at the bottom of this page. Click HERE for an example syllabus for PDBio 305 "Essentials in Human Physiology" (Fall and Winter). The following courses are team taught: PDBio 568 "Cellular Electrophysiology and Biophysics" (Fall), PDBio 601 "Graduate Physiology" (Fall), Neuro 601 "Graduate Neurophysiology" (Winter, team taught). Click HERE for more Department information of all PDBio courses.
HOBBIES - Laboratory Instrument Computer
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Click HERE to see Flowchart of Laboratory Research Projects Dr. Woodbury's research is in cellular and molecular physiology and focuses on membrane biophysics, particularly vesicle/membrane fusion and its regulation by SNARE proteins. The mechanism of vesicle-membrane fusion has been a target for investigators ever since the vesicular hypothesis of transmitter release was established in the 1950's. His approach is that of the classical biophysicist or reductionist. Namely, that by striving to simplify the experimental system as much as possible, the essential mechanisms of the underlying process can be revealed. Much of his research is carried out using native synaptic vesicles, artificial vesicles with reconstituted SNARE proteins, and planar lipid bilayers as artificial membranes. At the University of California, Irvine, Dr. Woodbury used an innovative system, employing video microscopy, to observe liposome-membrane fusion and also discovered that the presence of ion channels in liposomes greatly enhanced the likelihood of fusion. Later, at Brandeis University working with Dr. Chris Miller (Waltham, MA), Dr. Woodbury developed of a new technique for fusing vesicles into artificial membranes which greatly enhances his ability to study the molecular mechanisms underlying fusion. In 1990 Dr. Woodbury joined the Physiology Department in the Medical School at Wayne State University (Detroit, MI), where he used these techniques to study the mechanism of synaptic vesicle fusion. In 2001 Dr. Woodbury joined the Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology at Brigham Young University, where he continues his research on synaptic vesicle fusion.
Synaptic vesicles are the packages neurons use to store neurotransmitters until they are released across the synapse following an action potential. Fusion of synaptic vesicles is studied using two separate approaches. In one approach, native synaptic vesicles are isolated and purified in his laboratory from nerve cells found throughout the electric organ of the electric fish Torpedo californica and rat brain. A second approach uses molecular biological techniques to reconstitute recombinant proteins of the synapse into vesicles. In both cases, electrophysiological techniques are used to measure the fusion of these vesicles with a planar lipid membrane. In this way, Dr. Woodbury and his collaborator Dr. Lemos (U Mass) have identified the key role of several SNARE proteins in the fusion process. SNARE proteins form a complex, composed of syntaxin, synaptobrevin (VAMP) and SNAP-25, and are believed to drive the fusion process. It is these SNARE proteins that are the target of the extremely potent neurotoxins produced by Clostridium tetani (tetanus) and Clostridium botulinum (botulism). Dr. Woodbury's gratefully acknowledges funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Staff/Graduate Students/PostdocsCurrentPast Graduate StudentsPast Postdocs/StaffPast/Present Research Collaborators
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Articles 1. Moffat, J. C., V. Vijayvergiya, F. P. Gao, T. A. Cross, D. J. Woodbury, and D. Busath. "Proton Transport through Influenza A Virus M2 Protein Reconstituted in Vesicles." Biophysical J. 94 (2008): 434-445. <website> Richardson, E. S., W. G. Pitt, D. J. Woodbury. "The role of cavitation in liposome formation." Biophysical J. 93.12 (2007): 4100-4107. <website> Woodbury, D. J., E. S. Richardson, A. W. Grigg, R. D. Welling, and B. H. Knudson. "Manipulating vesicle size distributions with ultrasound: Bimodal size distributions." J. Liposome Research. 16.1 (2006): 57-80. Snyder, D. A., M. L. Kelly, and D. J. Woodbury. "SNARE complex regulation by phosphorylation (Review)." Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics. 45 (2006): 111-123. Helrich, C. S., J. A. Schmucker, and D. J. Woodbury. "Nystatin channels form at the boundary, not the interior of lipid domains." Biophysical J. 91.3 (2006): 1116-1127. Wilson-Ashworth, H. A., Q. Bahm, J. Erickson, A. Shinkle, M. P. Vu, D. J. Woodbury, and J. D. Bell. "Differential Detection of Phospholipid Fluidity, Order, and Spacing by Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Bis-pyrene, Prodan, Nystatin, and Merocyanine 540." Biophysical J. 91 (2006): 4091-4101. Franklin, M. J., D. J. Woodbury, and W. S. A. Brusilow. "Determination of Single Channel Proton Flux at pH 6.8 through Fo from Escherichia coli." Biophys. J. 87 (2004): 3594-3599. <website> McNally, J. M. ,D. J. Woodbury and J. R. Lemos. "Syntaxin 1A drives fusion of large dense core neurosecretory granules into a planar lipid bilayer." Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics. 41 (2004): 11-24. <website> Cao, N. J., W. S. A. Brusilow, J. J. Tomashek and D. J. Woodbury. "Characterization of reconstituted FO from wildtype Escherichia coli and identification of two other fluxes co-purifying with FO." Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics. 34 (2001): 305-320. Woodbury, D. J., and K. Rognlien. "The t-SNARE Syntaxin is sufficient for spontaneous fusion of synaptic vesicles to planar membranes." Cell Biology International. 24 (2000): 809-818. <website> Woodbury, D. J. "Building a bilayer model of the neuromuscular synapse." Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics. 30.3 (1999): 303-329. Alix, S.N. and D. J. Woodbury. "Phospholipase A2 Action on Planar Lipid Bilayers Generates a Small, Transitory." Biophys. J. 72 (1997): 247-253. <website> Kelly, M. L., and Woodbury, D. J. "Ion channels from cholinergic synaptic vesicle fragments reconstituted into lipid bilayers." Biophys. J. 70 (1996): 2593-2599. <website> Woodbury, D. J., and C. Miller. "Nystatin-induced liposome fusion: A versatile approach to ion channel reconstitution into planar bilayers." Biophys. J. 58.4 (1990): 833-839. <website> Woodbury, D. J. "Pure lipid vesicles can induce channel-like conductances in planar bilayers." J. Membrane Biol. 109 (1989): 145-150. <website> Books Woodbury, D. J., J. M. McNally, J. R. Lemos. "SNARE-induced fusion of vesicles to a Planar Bilayer." Advances in planar lipid bilayers and liposomes. Ed. A. Leitmannova-Liu. Elsevier, Dec. 2006. Vol. 5. Kelly, M. L. and D. J. Woodbury. "Planar Lipid Bilayers (BLMs) and their Applications." Advantages and disadvantages of patch clamping versus using BLM. Ed. H. T. Tien and A. Ottova-Leitmannova. 2003. Vol. 7. Rognlien, K. T. and D. J. Woodbury. "Reconstituting SNARE proteins into BLMs." Planar Lipid Bilayers (BLMs) and their Applications. Ed. H. T. Tien and A. Ottova-Leitmannova. Elsevier, 2003. Vol. 7. <website> Woodbury, D. J. "Nystatin/Ergosterol method for reconstituting ion channels into planar lipid bilayers." Methods in Enzymology: Ion Channels Part C,. Ed. P. Michael Conn. 1999. Vol. 294. |
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PDBIO 363
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Adv Physiol Lab
NEURO 696R : Neuroscience Grad Seminar PDBIO 362 : Advanced Physiology NEURO 649R : Laboratory Research PDBIO 494R : Undergraduate Research PDBIO 495R : Adv Undgraduate Research NEURO 449R : Neuro Research Experience PDBIO 694R : Research Presntatn PDBIO 696R : Graduate Seminar LFSCI 494R : Mentored Research PDBIO 550R : Advanced Topics |
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