Research Expertise and Interest

neurobiology, Structural Biology, biophysics

Research Description

Sensation of environmental stimuli, thought, learning, memory, and other aspects of neuronal communication, hormone secretion and movement all rely on cellular electrical signals. The Brohawn Lab studies life’s electrical system from a molecular and biophysical perspective. The focus of the laboratory is on ion channels, transporters and their regulatory complexes that form gated pathways for ionic traffic across cell membranes. We aim to discover how these membrane proteins work at a mechanistic level and what they do in a biological context. We utilize a range of approaches including structure determination by cryo-electron microscopy, electrophysiology, biophysics, biochemistry, pharmacology and imaging. Their goals are to understand the molecular basis of sensory transduction and electrical signaling and to lay the groundwork for development of new approaches to promoting health and treating disease.