Mohammad-Reza Ghovanloo, PhD
Associate Research ScientistCards
About
Titles
Associate Research Scientist
Associate Director for Drug Discovery, Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research
Biography
Mohammad-Reza Ghovanloo, PhD is an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Neurology and Associate Director for Drug Discovery at the Center for Neuroscience and Regeneration Research at Yale School of Medicine. His research bridges ion channel biophysics, neurophysiology, and pharmacology to uncover how chemical and physical interactions within the membrane environment regulate neuronal excitability. By integrating high-throughput electrophysiology with modeling, his work aims to identify and optimize next-generation therapeutics for pain and neurological disorders.
Dr. Ghovanloo’s work has established mechanistic frameworks explaining how cannabinoids such as cannabidiol (CBD), cannabigerol (CBG), and cannabinol (CBN) modulate voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels. These studies revealed that cannabinoids stabilize inactived channel states and alter membrane elasticity to fine-tune excitability, discoveries that have helped to reframe cannabinoid pharmacology in the context of ion channel function. His research continues to expand this work toward novel lipid-channel modulators with improved selectivity and translational potential.
His broader research program investigates how ion channel gating, membrane biophysics, and cellular context collectively determine the electrical behavior of neurons. Ongoing projects combine robotic high throughput patch-clamp electrophysiology, and molecular pharmacology to elucidate isoform-specific channel regulation and drug interactions. This integrated approach connects molecular mechanisms to systems-level function and supports the development of mechanistically targeted analgesics.
Dr. Ghovanloo earned his PhD from Simon Fraser University (Canada) in 2021, where he also completed his BSc (Honours) in 2015. Following doctoral studies, he joined Yale School of Medicine to establish translational ion channel pharmacology pipelines and was subsequently appointed Associate Director for Drug Discovery. His prior experience includes serving as a Research Fellow at Xenon Pharmaceuticals, where he contributed to the discovery and characterization of small-molecule modulators of voltage-gated ion channels, and conducting collaborative computational studies at the Science for Life Laboratory in Sweden.
A recipient of the CIHR Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, named in honor of Nobel laureate Sir Frederick Banting, and the NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dr. Ghovanloo has also been awarded the NSERC Alexander Graham Bell CGS-D and multiple MITACS fellowships. His research has been recognized through numerous awards, invited talks, and media features in outlets such as The National Post, The Toronto Star, The Canadian Business Journal, and Rolling Stone.
In addition to his research efforts, Dr. Ghovanloo serves as an Editor for Frontiers in Physiology, contributes to the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology for voltage-gated sodium channels, and has served in national peer review as a member of the CIHR Doctoral Research Awards Study Section. He also reviews for journals including Cell Reports, British Journal of Pharmacology, and Journal of General Physiology. His work aims to advance translational neurophysiology by integrating mechanistic discovery with scalable approaches to ion channel pharmacology.
Appointments
Neurology
Associate Research ScientistPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Yale School of Medicine (2024)
- PhD
- Simon Fraser University (2021)
- Visiting Researcher
- SciLifeLab (2020)
- Research Fellow
- Xenon Pharmaceuticals (2019)
- BSc (Hon)
- Simon Fraser University (2015)
Research
Overview
My research focuses on the functional principles that govern ion channel behavior in health and disease. I study how gating dynamics, membrane interactions, and pharmacological modulation shape neuronal excitability, and how these processes can be leveraged to develop safer and more effective therapeutics. The overarching goal is to connect channel biophysics to systems-level excitability and to translate mechanistic insights into new strategies for treating pain and neurological disorders.
A major focus of my research is on non-psychotomimetic cannabinoids and their modulation of voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels. Beginning with cannabidiol (CBD), our (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2018) study provided the first detailed description of CBD’s effects on Nav channels, demonstrating its inhibitory action and potential contributing mechanism of action for its anticonvulsant properties. Follow-up work in (Journal of General Physiology, 2021) revealed multiple mechanisms of CBD-mediated inhibition, including direct pore block and changes in membrane elasticity, while structural analysis published in (eLife, 2020) identified lipid-accessible fenestration pathways through which CBD interacts with embedded channel sites.
Subsequent studies expanded this framework to other phytocannabinoids. Our (British Journal of Pharmacology, 2022) paper showed that cannabigerol (CBG) inhibits Nav channels in dorsal root ganglion neurons and reduces excitability, supporting its role as a possible peripherally acting analgesic. In (Communications Biology, 2024), we defined cannabinol (CBN) as a functionally-selective Nav inhibitor across neuronal subtypes, establishing a continuum of cannabinoid modulators that stabilize inactive states of sodium channels. Our (PNAS, 2025) study identified Nav1.8 as a tractable peripheral target for these agents, positioning CBG as a promising compound for further investigation.
In parallel, we developed automated, high-throughput electrophysiology pipelines for functional profiling of primary neurons. Our (Cell Reports Methods, 2023) study introduced a robotic platform capable of multiplex voltage-clamp and current-clamp analyses, which we formalized in a (Nature Protocols, 2025) paper. This approach enables systematic quantification of excitability, pharmacological response, and disease-linked variants in freshly isolated neurons, bridging molecular and systems-level physiology.
Beyond cannabinoid pharmacology, my research examines channelopathies and the biophysical mechanisms underlying altered excitability. We have investigated mutations across multiple sodium channel isoforms, including SCN1A, SCN3A, SCN4A, SCN5A, and SCN9A, revealing how subtle changes in gating energetics, pH sensitivity, or drug response can drive disorders such as periodic paralysis, cardiac arrhythmia, neuropathic pain, and neurodevelopmental syndromes. Additional work on TRPM8 channels has linked sensory ion channel dysfunction to post-surgical pain. Together, these studies highlight how small perturbations in ion channel function produce distinct pathological phenotypes across excitable tissues.
Together, these research programs form a unified framework linking ion channel gating, pharmacology, and excitability across normal and diseased states. By integrating high-throughput electrophysiology, modeling, and translational pharmacology, my research seeks to develop mechanistically rational therapeutics for pain and excitability disorders.
Research Pages: Google Scholar, ResearchGate