Sven-Eric Jordt is Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Cancer Biology at Duke University School of Medicine. He was awarded a Ph.D. in biochemistry by Free University Berlin for work on voltage gated chloride channels, mentored by Thomas Jentsch. Jordt conducted postdoctoral work in David Julius’ lab at the University of California, San Francisco, where he contributed to the discovery of TRP channels in the pain pathway and investigated their roles in chemical and thermal sensing.

Research in the Jordt laboratory focuses on the role of TRP channels in the detection and health effects of toxic chemical threats. These include environmental irritants such as aldehydes in smoke from tobacco and wildfires, industrial chemicals such as chlorine and tear gas agents. The Jordt laboratory also revealed that TRP channels play a key role in the chronic inflammatory response in asthma and contact dermatitis. Current research focuses on the role of the vagus nerve in pulmonary inflammation and analgesia. The Jordt lab also conducts tobacco regulatory science, investigating the interactions of additives in modern tobacco products (e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches) with TRP channels and other chemoreceptors, and their effects on tobacco use initiation and toxicological responses. 

Sven received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) by the President of the United States and the Leading Edge in Basic Science Award by the Society of Toxicology, among other awards. He is serving on the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).