Research
Ion fluxes through ion channel proteins generate the bioelectricity or action potential, that runs our brain, perception of our environment, movements, and heartbeats. Ion channel dysfunction causes a myriad of diseases called channelopathies. Moreover, abnormal ion channel expression is associated with numerous cancer types.
Two major challenges for understanding how ion channels work and for the treatment of these ion channel-associated diseases remain:
1) Defining how ion channels interact with other proteins to form macromolecular complexes and how such complexes regulate channel functional expression, and
2) Addressing the lack of isoform-selective modulators that can discriminate different ion channel isoforms differentially expressed in electrically excitable tissues.
Our research team takes on these challenges with a particular interest in ion channels that respond to membrane potential variations. Using a combination of biophysical, biochemical, structural, and pharmacological approaches, together with our current and future collaborators, we aim at understanding how ion channel complexes work in health and disease, and uncovering new pharmacological tools to control ion channels when they go awry. Our ultimate goal is to improve our ability to prevent, cure, or mitigate human disease such as epilepsy, pain disorders, paralysis, and cardiac syndromes.
Another interest of our lab is to study how poisonous animals survive their own toxins. Various animals produce and/or carry toxins to defend themselves against predators. In nature, hundreds of different toxins are exploited in this chemical defense strategy. However, in most cases, it is not fully understood how host animals survive their own toxins. We study some of these fascinating poisonous animals with the goal to uncover their auto-resistance mechanisms and leverage that knowledge to develop antidotes against deadly and untreatable environmental toxins.
Techniques used in the lab
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Electrophysiology:
• Patch-clamp
• Two Electrodes Voltage Clamp
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Molecular Biology:
• Mutagenesis
• DNA and RNA extraction
• De-novo gene Cloning & subcloning
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Cell Biology:
• Flow cytometry
• Intracellular calcium measurements
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Biochemistry:
• Membrane protein expression and purification
• Western-blot
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Structural Biology:
• Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (cryo-em)
• Structure modeling
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Cell Culture:
• Cell line and primary cell culture