Dr. Dunn Awarded R01

April 3, 2023

Dr. James Dunn

Dr. James Dunn has been awarded an R01 from the NIH National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The almost $800,000 grant will fund his research project: Piezo-1 & 2’s Role in Murine Intestinal Muscularis Cells of the SIP Syncytium. Dr. Martin G Martin, a gastroenterologist from UCLA is a Co-PI on the project. 

"Intestinal dysmotility disorders and obstructions are under-researched and associated with enormous management costs and life-long adverse outcomes," said Dunn. "To expand our understanding of these disorders, we investigate how mechanosensors in the gut control bowel motility, allowing each bowel segment to sense and respond to stretch. We believe that this project may have essential findings in studying this group of patients and may also have therapeutic implications."

Piezo is a family of proteins that are responsible for sensing mechanical forces.

"For example, when you touch something, the force is converted to a signal that goes to your brain through Piezo," said Dunn. "The intestine also senses the forces as it mixes and squeezes digested food. This is carried out by the cells in the intestinal wall called SIP syncytium."

Ardem Patapoutian, PhD received the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the mechanical transducers Piezo 1 and 2. 

Dunn is the Chief of the Division of Pediatric General Surgery at Stanford University and Surgeon-in-Chief at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

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Rachel Baker
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rebaker@stanford.edu

Bio

As the Director of Communications for Stanford Surgery, Rachel Baker tells the stories of her department's faculty, staff, and trainees. With the help of an amazing team of content creators, she produces and curates original articles, photos, videos, graphics, and even podcasts.She works personally with each division, center, program, and lab within her purview to define their audience and reach their goals while maintaining a consistent brand voice. She hosts quarterly professional development workshops open to all AEM web authors--please email her if you'd like to join! She also offers both 1:1 and group education to faculty and residents on a variety of topics including media training, using social media to advantage, and presentation refinement. Rachel holds a Bachelor's degree in journalism with a focus on photography from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. A transplant from the DC-area, she still misses foliage and argyle but has happily adopted the official NorCal hobbies of visiting wineries, hiking local trails, and eating avocado.

About Stanford Surgery

The Stanford University Department of Surgery is dedicated to inventing the future of surgical care through:

• pioneering cutting-edge research, 
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To learn more, please visit surgery.stanford.edu

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