Description & Mission

The Ion Channel Research Unit aims to bring together a multi-disciplinary group of researchers, without departmental boundaries, who focus on membrane excitability/bioelectricity to address diseases caused by defects in ion channel function.

An ever-increasing number of disorders, such cardiac arrhythmias, epilepsy, ataxias, migraines, diabetes, and end-stage renal disease, are attributable to ion channel dysfunction. Because specific ion channels expressed in one tissue are identical or similar to ion channels expressed in another tissue, these apparently disparate “channelopathies” often share certain features. For example, mutations in the retinal Ca2+ channel cause night blindness, and defects in a homologous Ca2+ channel expressed in multiple tissues result in a multi-system disorder including cognitive abnormalities, hyperglycemia, cardiac arrhythmias, and developmental defects. Investigation of one type of ion channel from multiple perspectives can thus catalyze efforts to understand a range of channelopathies.

The Ion Channel Research Unit’s goals are:

• Cross-pollination of related areas of research that traditionally have been separate, by uniting investigators focusing on different diseases resulting from dysfunction of homologous channels.
• Sharing of biophysical expertise, techniques, and approaches, and leveraging equipment investment, among researches focusing on different types of ion channels.
• Recognition within the institution of a group of investigators devoted to research on ion channels and diseases, providing a resource for investigators outside of the ICRU and opportunities for collaborations between ICRU and outside investigators.
• Training of a new generation of scientists who have an integrative approach to ion channels and disease.