Rate My Professor Ashlee Rowe

Rowe's research explores the molecular and physiological underpinnings of sensory and neuromuscular adaptations that enable adaptive behaviors in predator-prey interactions. Her lab focuses on carnivorous grasshopper mice (Onychomys spp.) that prey upon chemically defended arthropods, including bark scorpions (Centruroides sculpturatus), centipedes, tarantulas, and darkling beetles. Key investigations examine how evolutionary changes in ion channels, such as voltage-gated sodium channels (NaV1.8), confer resistance to potent neurotoxins, influencing pain perception, risk assessment, prey choice, and learning. Employing an integrative approach, her group utilizes biochemistry, patch-clamp electrophysiology, behavioral assays, RNA sequencing, molecular cloning, site-directed mutagenesis, and heterologous expression systems, conducting studies in both natural field settings and laboratory environments.

Rowe has published seminal works advancing this field, including "Voltage-gated sodium channel in grasshopper mice defends against bark scorpion toxin" (Rowe et al., Science, 342:441-446, 2013), which identified a critical amino acid substitution inhibiting toxin binding; "Predatory grasshopper mice" (Rowe & Rowe, Current Biology, 25:R1023-R1026, 2015); "Physiological resistance of grasshopper mice (Onychomys spp.) to Arizona bark scorpion (Centruroides exilicauda) venom" (Rowe & Rowe, Toxicon, 52:597-605, 2008); and "Isolation and characterization of CvIV4: a pain inducing α-scorpion toxin" (Rowe et al., PLoS ONE, 6:e23520, 2011). She serves on the editorial board of Toxicon: X, mentoring students and fostering interdisciplinary research in neuroecology and evolutionary physiology.