It's a very exciting time for brain research at Wright State. Last year a gift from the Kettering Fund funded seed grants to develop innovative new lines of biomedical research at Wright State. In 1996 the Kettering family endowed a scholarship fund for Wright State medical students who make a commitment to treat geriatric patients in the Miami Valley region. The Kettering family is pleased to continue its support of Wright State University School of Medicine. Located in Wright State's Biological Sciences Building, the new center will provide shared laboratories and technical staff for researchers in departments as diverse as anatomy, physiology and biophysics, neurology, and psychiatry.
Interdisciplinary collaboration is essential for the future of brain research.
A case in point is a research collaboration investigating TASK-1, one of a novel family of proteins involved in moving potassium in and out of brain cells. The gene that codes the expression of TASK-1 was isolated four years ago. Using this genetic tool and other experimental techniques, Dr. Fyffe and colleagues at Wright State University School of Medicine and Imperial College in London set about to determine TASK-1's function. The international team of scientists reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that TASK-1 is found in the membrane of nerve cells called granule cells in the brain's cerebellum. TASK-1 functions as a molecular channel in the cell membrane allowing electrically charged potassium ions to move in and out of the cell.