Ion channels play a crucial role in many cellular processes, including neuronal communication, muscle contraction or cell proliferation. Most multi subunit ion channels exist in two functional states, ...

A member of an important class of ion channel proteins can transiently rearrange itself into a larger structure with dramatically altered properties, according to a new study. The discovery is a ...

Researchers have discovered how an ion channel in the brain's neurons has a kind of 'molecular memory', which contributes to the formation and preservation of lifelong memories. The researchers have ...

Researchers have revealed how a channel that controls cellular potassium levels causes metabolic rewiring in breast cancer cells, promoting tumor growth. The study, published in eLife, was described ...

Ion channels enable passive ion flow towards equilibrium, which is driven by ion concentration differences across the membrane and the membrane potential (the difference electric potential between the ...

Cells send electrical impulses throughout the body, but electrophysiologists struggled to tune into these signals until the patch clamp technique was developed. Although biophysicist Bernard Katz from ...

The ion channel PIEZO2 doesn't just convey touch stimuli. It also plays a key role in the development of coronary vessels, a team led by Annette Hammes from the Max Delbrück Center reports in Nature ...

Researchers decipher the function of an ion channel involved in cellular degradation processes and create new possibilities for Parkinson’s therapies. Washbowls, bathtubs, and sinks are all fitted ...

When a scrappy team of scientists joined forces in the late 1990s, they sought to identify genetic mutations that could have an outsized impact on the treatment of human disease. At the time, that ...