E-mail:
Professor, Baylor College of Medicine
Chair, Department of Biochemistry
B.S., University of Chicago and University of South Florida, 1980
Ph.D., University of California, Davis, 1984
Postdoc, Stanford University, 1988
The Wensel Lab research includes the following areas:
Visual transduction
G protein pathways and proteins that regulate them in the retina and the brain
RGS proteins: GAPs for heterotrimeric G proteins
Biomembranes
Ocular proteomics
Cryo-electron tomography
Gene repair in neurons
Time-resolved fluorescence and luminescence
Electron and x-ray crystallography
Gene engineering in mice and frogs
TRP channels
Selected Publications
Mancuso JJ, Qian Y, Long C, Wu GY, Wensel TG (2010) Distribution of RGS9-2 in neurons of the mouse striatum. Journal of Neurochemistry 112:651-661.
Budzynski E, Gross AK, McAlear SD, Peachey NS, Shukla M, He F, Edwards M, Won J, Hicks WL, Wensel TG, Naggert JK, Nishina PM (2010) Mutations of the opsin gene (Y102H and I307N) lead to light-induced degeneration of photoreceptors and constitutive activation of phototransduction in mice. Journal of Biological Chemistry 7:14521-14533.
Rodriguez GJ, Yao R, Lichtarge O, Wensel TG (2010) Evolution-guided discovery and recoding of allosteric pathway specificity determinants in psychoactive bioamine receptors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107:7787-7792.
Gilliam JC, Wensel TG (2011) TRP channel gene expression in the mouse retina. Vision Research 8:2440-2452.
Gilliam JC, Chang JT, Sandoval IM, Zhang Y, Li T, Pittler SJ, Chiu W, Wensel TG (2012) Three-dimensional architecture of the rod sensory cilium and its disruption in retinal neurodegeneration. Cell 151:1029-1041.
Arshavsky VY, Wensel TG (2013) Timing is everything: GTPase regulation in phototransduction. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 54:7725-7733.
Wang S, Tan KL, Agosto MA, Xiong B, Yamamoto S, Sandoval H, Jaiswal M, Bayat V, Zhang K, Charng WL, David G, Duraine L, Venkatachalam K, Wensel TG, Bellen HJ (2014) The retromer complex is required for rhodopsin recycling and its loss leads to photoreceptor degeneration. PLOS Biology 12:e1001847.
Agosto MA, Zhang Z, He F, Anastassov IA, Wright SJ, McGehee J, Wensel TG (2014) Oligomeric state of purified TRPM1, a protein essential for dim light vision. Journal of Biological Chemistry 11: 289:27019-27033.
Kang HJ, Menlove K, Ma J, Wilkins A, Lichtarge O, Wensel TG (2014) Selectivity and evolutionary divergence of metabotropic glutamate receptors for endogenous ligands and G proteins coupled to phospholipase C or TRP channels. Journal of Biological Chemistry 289:29961-29974.
Contact Information
Ted G. Wensel, Ph.D.
Department of Biochemistry
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza N430/N403
Houston, TX 77030
Lab website
Tel: (713) 798-6994
E-mail: