Zachary Del Mundo

Current Research

Bottom-up Identification of Detergent-Solubilized Transmembrane Proteins from Nervous Tissue and Hemolymph of the American Lobster

As a decapod crustacean, Homarus americanus has a relatively simple and anatomically accessible nervous system compared to mammals, characterized by decentralized neurocircuits and a segmental arrangement of fewer ganglia along the ventral nerve cord. These features facilitate the study of neuroactive biomolecule localization across functionally discrete nervous system regions. We are particularly interested in the stomatogastric nervous system (STNS), which governs rhythmic motor patterns and contains numerous highly active neuronal clusters (ganglia) enriched with neurochemicals potentially relevant to neurological disorders. Our targets include transmembrane receptors in neural cells and their interacting neuropeptides, as these molecular classes may provide insights into mechanisms analogous to mammalian neuropathogenesis. To systematically analyze and validate their expression, we employ enrichment-based sample preparation followed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), leveraging predicted proteome databases derived from the American lobster genome.