Chaseley McKenzie is the Molecular Pharmacology Highlighted Trainee Author for the July 2023 issue. Currently, she is a second-year PhD student at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, studying under the guidance of her mentors, Prof. Christopher Reid and Prof. Ian Forster, in the Neurophysiology of Excitable Networks Laboratory. The Molecular Pharmacology article that earned her selection as a Highlighted Trainee Author is titled “The Potential Antidepressant Compound Org 34167 Modulates HCN Channels Via a Novel Mode of Action” and is available at: https://doi.org/10.1124/molpharm.123.000676.

Ms. McKenzie’s current research focuses on disease mechanisms and precision treatments for HCN1 developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (HCN1-DEE), a devastating form of childhood epilepsy. She has identified a common “cation-leak” mechanism underlying disease in the majority of HCN1-DEE cases using two-electrode voltage-clamp techniques in Xenopus oocytes. She has also identified small molecule drugs that can rescue the cation leak biophysical consequences in several HCN1 pathogenic variants and demonstrated that the drugs reduce excitability in the Hcn1 M294L mouse model of HCN1-DEE.

The anticipated impact of Ms. McKenzie’s research aims to provide novel insights into the function of HCN1 channels and how their dysfunction can cause disease, as well as to provide a valuable understanding into the use of precision medicines to treat these diseases.

Outside her research, Chaseley enjoys teaching and playing the piano. She also enjoys exercising and spending time with her loved ones.