The connexins are about 70 angstroms in diameter. Surface expression of a gap junction protein, connexin 43. Same field viewed with phase contrast optics shows cells, their nuclei, and borders between cells where junctions are located. The channels are believed to transmit certain biochemicals. What we don't know about the channels is what they transport.
Inherited cataracts are congenital, resulting in blindness.
In cell culture, Shiels has found that the mutant proteins fail to make the connexins. He assumes that whatever would travel through the channels keeps the lens clear. Beyond discovering what molecules traverse the connexins is the way that traffic is regulated. The Holy Grail of membrane channel biology is to understand how channels open and close. He hopes to understand how mutations in connexins form, thus determining the impact of mutant protein in the connexin.