Deborah Nelson Deborah Nelson, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Neurobiology, Pharmacology and Physiology Department of Medicine Committee on Neurobiology Committee on Cell Physiology Function of ion channels in excitation-secretion coupling. Our research uses the technique of extracellular patch clamping in the exploration of the role of ion channels in non-excitable cells.
Ion channels are intrinsic membrane proteins that mediate fast communication in nerve and muscle.
They are also important to a myriad of functions of non-excitable cells. Expression studies in Xenopus oocytes and stable cell lines have confirmed the similarity of these currents to those observed in normal cells. Antibodies directed against the channel and a fusion epitope have allowed characterization of the protein in transfected cell lines and transgenic animals. Protein modeling of this region will allow us to make predictions concerning the possible structure and assembly of multi-ion pores of which IRK1 is an example. This may allow rational drug design to modify the function of ion channels in patients with inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis, ischemic injury to the brain as well as other functions disordered by disease.