echo

Research

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Source: University College Dublin

New study identifies the TRPV4 channel as playing a key role in translating mechanical signals from a baby's movement in the womb to healthy development of the skeleton.

stomach-pain

Research

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Source: Flinders University

Targeting Piezo2 could provide a new avenue for treating chronic pain associated with gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome.

neuro

Research

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Source: Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

A new method for modulating neural activity using optogenetic polymerization and assembly of electroactive polymers on specified cellular membranes.

Image by NomeVisualizzato from Pixabay

Research

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Source: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

The recurrent SCN1A p.R1636Q variant causes a clinical entity with a wider clinical spectrum than previously reported, characterized by neonatal onset epilepsy and absence of prominent movement disorder.

urine test

Research

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Source: Aarhus University

Challenged urine bicarbonate excretion may be an in vivo biomarker of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) function.

cancer cells

Research

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Source: Imperial College London

The high-throughout, cellular-resolution imaging data indicate that Vm fluctuates dynamically in subpopulations of highly aggressive breast cancer cell lines.

heart

Research

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Source: Weill Cornell Medicine

Anionic lipids unlock the gates of select ion channels in the pacemaker family

Research

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Source: University College London

UCL researchers developed a gene therapy strategy that self-selects pathologically overactive neurons and down-regulates their excitability via controlled expression of Kv1.1.

cancer-cells

Research

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Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Elevated viscosity counterintuitively increases the motility of various cell types in a TRPV4-dependent manner.

sleep

Research

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Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine

TRPM7 channels regulate breathing during sleep in obesity by acting peripherally in the carotid bodies.

lab mouse - Image by Tibor Janosi Mozes from Pixabay

Research

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Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Researchers discovered that blocking the TRPC6 channel in genetically modified mice with severe or moderate Duchenne muscular dystrophy substantially improves their skeletal and cardiac muscle function, bone deformities and survival.

A girl listening to music - Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom on Pexels

Research

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Source: University of Colorado

cAMP and voltage modulate rat auditory mechanotransduction by decreasing the stiffness of gating springs.

car park

Research

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Source: MIT

While the biosynthesis of the voltage-gated Ca2+ channels does not play a major role in regulating their abundance at presynaptic active zones, both trafficking and recycling at active zones are important regulatory steps.

chemist - Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

Research

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Source: Tokyo Institute of Technology

Inspired by mechanosensitive potassium channels found in nature, researchers have developed the first synthetic mechanosensitive potassium channel.

Cat, itch - Photo by Fox on Pexels

Research

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Source: Fierce Biotech

Researchers showed that the Piezo2 channels in Merkel cells are responsible for the itch triggered by mechanical stimulation in dry skin.

flashlight

Research

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Source: The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Researcher have discovered two naturally occurring channelrhodopsins enabling optogenetic control of K+ gradients, which is promising for the study and potential treatment of potassium channelopathies such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and long-QT syndrome and other cardiac arrhythmias.

Kv4

Research

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Source: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

New findings elucidate mechanisms of closed-state inactivation and voltage-dependent activation of the KV4 channel.

heart - Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash

Research

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Source: Fierce Biotech

Scientists demonstrated that prokaryotic sodium channels can be directly, specifically, and stably expressed in cardiomyocytes through viral gene delivery to augment tissue excitability and conduction.

neurons

Research

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Source: MIT

Human neurons have fewer ion channels compared to the neurons of other mammals.

coronavirus - Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash

Research

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Source: MIT

An essential protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the envelope protein E, forms a homopentameric cation channel that is important for virus pathogenicity.

Trophies

Research

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October 2020 has really become a month of awards for ion channel researchers.

Ardem Patapoutian and David Julius

Research

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Source: The Kavli Prize

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has decided to award the 2020 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian “for their transformative discovery of receptors for temperature and pressure.”

ion channel structure

Research

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The high-resolution structure of the cardiac sodium channel gives detailed insights into voltage-dependent activation, ion selectivity, arrhythmia mechanisms, and antiarrhythmic drug action at the atomic level.