CVRI Scientists

Daniel L. Minor, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics

Research Interests:
Membrane proteins; potassium channels, calcium channels

Summary:
An electrical impulse drives each heartbeat. Generation of such signals requires the concerted action of ion channel proteins and the molecules that modulate their activity. Together, these proteins form the machinery that allows ions such as sodium, potassium, and calcium to move into and out of cells to make electrical signals in the heart and brain. Our lab is interested in understanding the fundamental molecular architecture of ion channels. This information is essential for understanding how they work, for developing new therapeutics to control their functions, and to understand how disease causing mutations cause problems such as arrythmias, epilepsy, and deafness. Despite decades of study by functional methods, a scarcity of high-resolution structural information and a lack of specific inhibitors for many types of channels limit our knowledge of how these molecules work. Understanding ion channels ultimately requires a high-resolution structural description of the channel proteins, their regulatory factors, and the conformational changes that accompany channel action. We are approaching this problem from the perspective of structural biology. Because channels are membrane proteins, a difficult class to investigate with any single structural technique, our efforts are directed at a multidisciplinary approach that involves both genetic, biochemical, electrophysiological, and X-ray crystallographic approaches for studying ion channel structure and function.