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Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy (CBNA)
Tayler D. Sheahan, PhD (she/her)

Tayler D. Sheahan, PhD

Assistant Professor

Locations

  • Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy
  • BSB, 4th Floor

Contact Information

Education

Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2024
PhD, Washington University in St. Louis, 2017
BS, Marquette University, 2012
View the Sheahan Laboratory website

Biography

Dr. Tayler Sheahan is a neuroscientist studying the neural basis of pain and itch. Her research career began as an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Ed Blumenthal’s lab at Marquette University, where she studied eggshell development in the fruit fly as a model of how extracellular structures are organized. Dr. Sheahan then pursued a doctorate in neurosciences at Washington University in St. Louis in the lab of Dr. Rob Gereau. Her doctoral work included several studies broadly aimed at bridging the translational gap between rodent and human pain research by asking questions like: ‘How do we measure pain in rodents?’ and ‘How similar are the neurons that sense pain in mice and humans?’

In 2018, she joined Dr. Sarah Ross’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow in the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research at the University of Pittsburgh. Her work, supported by an NINDS K99/R00, F32, and T32, focused on understanding how itch is encoded in the spinal cord, leading to two key discoveries: the spinal neuron populations that encode itch, as well as the site of action within the spinal cord of clinically effective anti-itch drugs that target the kappa opioid receptor.

In 2024, Dr. Sheahan returned to Milwaukee and launched her independent lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin in the Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy. She continues to combine cellular and molecular neuroscience, neurophysiology, and behavioral neuroscience approaches to tease apart mechanisms of pain and itch in health and disease. 

Dr. Sheahan is excited to have the privilege to train the next generation of scientists. Undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees who are enthusiastic about somatosensory neurobiology and interested in joining the Sheahan Lab are encouraged to reach out to Dr. Sheahan at tsheahan@mcw.edu. 

Research Interests

The Sheahan Lab studies how the sensations of pain and itch are encoded in the nervous system. These sensations were evolved to protect our bodies from potential dangers in the environment, but can go awry and give rise to debilitating diseases like chronic pain and chronic itch (e.g. eczema). Our research focus is to first understand how pain and itch are typically encoded throughout the nervous system and then pinpoint changes that occur to give rise to disease, with the long-term goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets for pain and itch relief. To do this, we use a range of approaches in rodent models including molecular genetics, circuit mapping, two-photon Ca2+ imaging, and behavioral analysis to understand the neural mechanisms of somatosensation. We also leverage human tissues to assess the translational relevance of findings made in animal models.

Publications

Publications of Tayler D. Sheahan PhD from the Faculty Collaboration Database

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