ImageMikael Stiernstedt
Every animal experiences the world in its own way, shaped by the sensory systems it uses to detect and interpret the environment. Our lab investigates how vertebrates sense and process diverse environmental signals, from molecules and cells to ion channels and specialized sensory endings. Using comparative, molecular, and functional approaches, we explore how sensory systems are built, how they adapt, and how they vary across species especially in non-standard model organisms. We are inspired by the diversity found in nature and seek to uncover basic mechanisms of how nervous systems function.
Within somatosensation, our main focus is mechanosensation and touch. We study mechanotransduction—how mechanical forces are converted into electrical and molecular signals in sensory cells and specialized skin structures called mechanosensory corpuscles. By examining this process across a wide range of vertebrates, we aim to reveal how touch systems evolve, function, and recover from injury.
To link structure to function at high resolution, we combine patch-clamp electrophysiology, volume electron microscopy, molecular biology, transcriptomics, functional live imaging, and tissue-clearing 3D imaging techniques.