Photopharmacology: using light to control cold sensors

Researchers have developed a molecule that allows an important ion channel to be regulated – a breakthrough with therapeutic potential

19-Dec-2024 - Located in the cell membrane, TRPM8 ion channels are known as receptors that recognize cold and respond to menthol, the cooling agent in peppermint. In addition, these channels influence pain perception and play a key role in numerous diseases. This makes them promising targets for the ...

Venomous crustacean from Mayan underwater caves provides new drug candidates

08-Oct-2024 - Zootoxins affect a wide range of physiological processes and are therefore of great interest for drug research. An international study led by Björn von Reumont of Goethe University Frankfurt has identified novel toxins from the cave-dwelling underwater crustacean Xibalbanus tulumensis that ...

Existing drug can repair ion channel linked to epilepsy

14-Aug-2024 - Mutated variants of a particular ion channel cause difficult-to-treat epilepsy. A study now shows that a commonly used anaesthetic drug, propofol, can restore the function of this ion channel. The discovery was made by researchers at Linköping University and Weill Cornell Medicine. The findings ...

Understanding the roots of chronic pain

Ion channel that contributes to chronic pain identified, suggesting a new target for pain medication

16-Jul-2024 - A team of researchers led by Oscar Sánchez-Carranza in Professor Gary Lewin’s lab at the Max Delbrück Center have identified a new function for the PIEZO2 protein – in mediating chronic pain hypersensitivity. The research suggests a new target for analgesics and potentially explains why pain ...

Bacteria under stress

Understand bacterial defense mechanisms in detail

09-Nov-2020 - In stress situations, bacteria use special ion channels for defense. Understanding how they function provides the basis for combating harmful bacteria. A Würzburg research group in cooperation with ETH Zurich and the University of Oxford has now been able to decipher how two of these channels are ...

Neandertals may have had a lower threshold for pain

People who inherited a special ion channel from Neandertals experience more pain

27-Jul-2020 - Pain is mediated through specialized nerve cells that are activated when potentially harmful things affect various parts of our bodies. These nerve cells have a special ion channel that has a key role in starting the electrical impulse that signals pain and is sent to the brain. According to a ...

Ion channel VRAC enhances immune response against viruses

New strategies against DNA viruses and cancer

16-Apr-2020 - VRAC/LRRC8 chloride channels do not only play a decisive role in the transport of cytostatics, amino acids and neurotransmitters. They can also transport the important messenger substance cGAMP from cell to cell and thus strengthen the immune response to infections with DNA viruses. This has now ...

Scientists develop DNA microcapsules with built-in ion channels

20-Sep-2019 - A Research group led by Tokyo Tech reports a way of constructing DNA-based microcapsules that hold great promise for the development of new functional materials and devices. They showed that tiny pores on the surface of these capsules can act as ion channels. Their study will accelerate advances ...

Why are neuron axons long and spindly?

They're optimizing signaling efficiency!

16-Jul-2018 - A team of bioengineers at UC San Diego has answered a question that has long puzzled neuroscientists, and may hold a key to better understanding the complexities of neurological disorders: Why are axons, the spindly arms extending from neurons that transmit information from neuron to neuron in ...

Prof. Dr. Peter Hegemann receives Otto Warburg Medal 2018

28-Mar-2018 - On March 23rd, Prof. Dr. Peter Hegemann from the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin has been awarded the Otto Warburg Medal 2018. The Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM e.V.) as well as its cooperation partners, the information analytics company Elsevier and Biochimica et Biophysica ...