Loren Looger, PhD

Dr. Looger holds degrees in math, chemistry, and biophysics, and primarily works in the fields of protein engineering and synthetic biology. His lab has made many of the protein-based tools in wide use across neuroscience and related fields, including sensors for calcium (GCaMP), glutamate, serotonin, glucose, ATP, and numerous other molecules; engineered viral serotypes such as AAVretro; fluorescent proteins like the Eos probes; optogenetic effectors like eMagnets; and many others. His lab has begun making tools for Parkinson’s disease, including sensors for polyamines (spermine, spermidine, etc.), aggregation states of a-synuclein, and protein and organellar interactions of PD risk alleles. His lab takes Open Science seriously and broadly and freely distributes reagents, frequently before publication. His lab always seeks new collaborations; please contact him with any requests or ideas of tools, techniques, or datasets that could help the field.