Researchers at Leipzig University and TU Dresden have succeeded in developing biological switches that can selectively turn ion channels on and off using light pulses. Initial applications show that ...

Maintenance of cardiac rhythm and pain sensation require the flow of ions across the membranes of all cells. Ion channels, which facilitate this movement, are protein assemblies that penetrate the ...

Pretein design researcher Yulai Liu holds an enlarged 3D printed model from his team's efforts to design functioning calcium channels entirely from scratch. He is standing in David Baker's lab at the ...

(Nanowerk Spotlight) Biological brains compute using ions, not electrons. Every signal between neurons depends on charged atoms passing through protein channels embedded in cell membranes, a system ...

Two mutations identified in individuals with developmental and epileptic brain disease can be traced back to the same ion channel. Researchers have now elucidated how both independent mutations affect ...