Using the powerful combination of electrophysiology, cell biophysics, molecular biology and biochemistry, we study the properties of a family of voltage-gated potassium channel proteins, Kv7 (KCNQ), whose mutations in humans lead to major neurological and cardiovascular disorders like epilepsy, deafness and cardiac arrhythmias (long QT syndrome).
projects in the lab
* Subunit interactions in Kv7 potassium channels: gating, thermodynamics, cooperativity and implications for diseased long QT mutations.
* Assembly rules of the cardiac Kv7.1 potassium channel complex
* Targeting Kv7 and TRPV1 channels with gating-modifier molecules.
* Mechanisms underlying the pacemaker activity in developing human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.
* Role of Kv7.2/3 channels in hippocampal neurotransmission in a rat model of schizophrenia * Tuning of voltage-gated potassium channels by Src tyrosine kinases and tyrosine phosphatases in the hippocampus: impact on excitability.