Jeremy Alden Teissere
Education
- Post-doctoral study, Emory University
- Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
- B.A., magna cum laude, Willamette University
Teaching Interests
I teach because I believe that people can be fundamentally changed by their learning. I don’t mean in the sense of “becoming something,” like a doctor or an actor or a hedge-fund manager. I mean helping students to uncover—and then to take responsibility for— their own singular voice. I want students to become suspicious of easy or uncomplicated “professional success,” emancipate themselves from the dogmatic expectations of careers and discover what they can and cannot honestly give to the world.
Part of my excitement of being at Muhlenberg derives from the pleasure it has been to work with my colleagues to build our neuroscience program across the last decade. We now have one of the most highly enrolled neuroscience majors at a liberal arts college in the United States and are one of three stand-alone neuroscience departments at a primarily undergraduate institution. Neuroscience intersects with numerous disciplines in the natural sciences and philosophy, and so when we introduce courses, we’re introducing subjects of enormous (and fascinating) interdisciplinary breadth, from neurotransmitters to consciousness. The list below of courses that I teach gives you a sense of what I mean.
Research and Scholarship
How are synaptic chemical signals transduced (meaning “conveyed” or ”transferred”) within the nervous system? How do drugs bind to and activate their receptor targets? I use a multidisciplinary approach, including biochemical, molecular biological, pharmacological and physiological approaches to examine these questions.
The current focus of my laboratory is investigating the biochemical basis of anxiety. In particular, we are resolving the structure and function of neurotransmitter receptors that are targeted by anxiety-reducing drugs. Our conclusions have the potential to provide a more fundamental and specific understanding of the neural underpinnings of premenstrual syndrome, postpartum depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
In collaboration with Dr. Christine Ingersoll, professor of chemistry, we are also working to identify the key chemical constituents of plants that reduce anxiety. This research has been supported by a variety of fellowships from the National Institutes of Mental Health, the Sentience Foundation and Muhlenberg College.
I regularly collaborate with my students in the lab; much of their work has contributed to our understanding of the molecular basis of anxiolysis (meaning “reduced anxiety”) and has resulted in honors theses, manuscripts and poster presentations at regional and national meetings.
- CUE: Advanced Seminar in Neuroscience
- Dana Scholars Directed Studies: Teissere Lab
- Dana Sophomore Seminar
- Neurons & Networks
- Neuropharmacology & Cell Signaling
- Neuroscience Independent Study/Research - CBD & GABA(A)R
- Neuroscience Independent Study/Research - Teissere Lab
- Neuroscience Independent Study/Research - Teissere Lab Research
- Neuroscience Independent Study/Research: CBD and GABA(A)R
- Neuroscience Independent Study/Research: GABA(A) Receptor
- Neuroscience Independent Study/Research: Skullcap on GABA
- Neuroscience Independent Study/Research: Teissere Research Lab
- Rethinking Drugs & Drug Abuse
- Luck TG ’17, Maehler PH ’17, Stavros AG ’17, Cameron SB ’17, Halpern AM ’16, Weiss AC ’15, Perrotta KA ’18, Ingersoll CM and Teissere JA (2017). Extracts of Passiflora incarnata modulate the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) type A receptor. New Orleans, LA: Biophysical Society 2017 Annual Meeting. Online.
- Perrotta KA ’18, Weiss A ’15, Cameron S ’17, Halpern A ’16, Luck T ’17, Maehler P ’17, Stavros A ’17, Ingersoll CM and Teissere JA (2017). Applying chemistry to questions in neuroscience: HPLC-DAD/MS analysis of Passiflora incarnata. San Francisco, CA: American Chemical Society 2017 Annual Meeting. Online.
- Hamersky G ’14, Quach ME ’14, McKechnie T ’14, Ingersoll CM and Teissere JA (2014). Extracts of Passiflora incarnata modulate the GABAA Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience 2014 Annual Meeting. Online.
- Jablonski AM ’08, Toboul E ‘07, Matulay JT ’08, Lashner MA and Teissere JA(2008). Resolving the functional relationship of allopregnanolone to the identity of amino acids in the M1 region of the GABAA receptor a1 subunit. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience 2008 Annual Meeting. Online.
- Sancar F, Ericksen SS, Kucken AM, Teissere JA and Czajkowski C (2007). Structural determinants for high-affinity zolpidem binding to GABAAMol Pharmacol 71:38-46.
- Sheard LB ’07, McGinniss JE ’06, and Teissere JA (2006). Dissecting neurosteroid modulation of the GABAAreceptor using interreceptor chimeragenesis. Atlanta, GA: Society for Neuroscience 2006 Annual Meeting. Online.
- Balasubramanian S, Teissere JA, Raju DV and Hall RA (2004). Hetero-oligomerization between GABAAand GABAB receptors regulates GABAB receptor trafficking. J Biol Chem 279:18840-18850.
- Kucken AM^, Teissere JA^, Kucken AM, Seffinga-Clark J, Wagner DA and Czajkowski C (2002). Structural requirements for imidazobenzodiazepine binding to GABAAMol Pharmacol 63:289-296. (^Denotes equal first-author contribution.)
- Teissere JA and Czajkowski C (2001). A beta-strand in the g2 subunit lines the benzodiazepine binding site of the GABAAreceptor: Structural rearrangements detected during channel gating. J Neurosci 21:4977-4986.
- Paul C. Empie Memorial Award for distinguished teaching and service
- Student Government Award for student mentorship
- Henry Award for faculty member of the year
- Distinguished Alumnus from University of Wisconsin-Madison
Biochemistry
Neuroscience
Contact: jeremyteissere@muhlenberg.edu