His lab's latest discovery is that a potassium channel found in neurons probably differs in a critical way from a bacterial potassium channel whose crystal structure has until now guided most scientists in the field.
Similar blockers serve as local anesthetics.
The study of what ion channels look like and how they open and close continues a classic line of basic neuroscience. It began with the initial description, early this century, of the sodium, potassium, and chloride currents that generate an action potential, and had another high point in the study of the channel proteins and blocking agents that garnered last year's Albert Lasker Award for basic medical research. Research such as Yellen's can help explain how such mutations alter the function of the affected pore. It can also yield insight into how drugs treating these conditions work and provide clues for designing more specific ones. To appreciate the importance of ion channels, consider that a cell typically expends about 30 percent of its energy to maintain the uneven distribution of ions on either side of its membrane, which gives the membrane its electric potential.