We wish to understand phenomena such as channel gating, pore formation and ion selectivity in terms of molecular chemistry.
Structural work involves a combination of electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography.
A single particle EM analysis and 3D reconstruction of negatively stained GluRB homomers has recently been completed. Two-dimensional crystallization is also being pursued. In parallel, we are studying the molecular mechanism of GluR ligand binding. This work involves spectroscopic and thermodynamic analyses of the association of agonists with the GluR ligand-binding domain. Please also see our list of publications .