Jensen Lab
Dane D. Jensen PhD

Biography
Dane D. Jensen earned a PhD from the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Wyoming in 2011. Dane then undertook post-doctoral training at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Parkville Australia and at the University of Nevada, Reno where he received a New Investigator Award from the American Heart Association. In 2017 Dane was recruited to Columbia University where he received the Blakemore Award for his research on receptor signaling and pain. Dane was recruited as an assistant professor to New York University in 2019.
Dane’s primary focus is G protein-coupled receptor signaling in pain, inflammation, and itch. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are dynamic transmembrane receptors involved in most physiological processes. Recent advances in the investigation of GPCR signaling reveal that GPCRs can signal from endosomes, small membrane bound organelles within cells. Previously, it was thought that endosomes simply transport, recycle, or degrade GPCRs. This finding dramatically enhances our understanding of relationship between GPCR signaling and disease. GPCR signaling in endosomes is an important factor in the development of chronic pain and itch. The Jensen lab seeks to reveal the mechanisms regulating endosomal GPCR signaling and develop new therapies that target endosomal GPCRs to treat pain and itch. This approach holds the potential to treat these disorders with fewer side-effects including addiction that detract from current opioid therapies.
Representative Publications
Complete listing available on the NYU Health Sciences Library site.
Assistant Professor
NYU Dentistry Translational Research Center, Department of Molecular Pathobiology
Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
NYU College of Dentistry