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 ...

Potassium channels can become nonconducting via inactivation at a gate inside the highly conserved selectivity filter (SF) region near the extracellular side of the membrane. In certain ligand-gated ...

Following this design principle, the researchers create angstrom-scale pores in bi-layer graphene sheets, and decorate the two pore edges with twisted rings of carbonyl groups. The artificial ion ...

For ion transport at nanoscale confinements, a cost of energy is discovered that originates from the rearrangement of the counter-ion shell, with the magnitude of which depending on the type of ...

Potassium channels are responsible for the selective permeation of K⁺ ions across cell membranes. K⁺ ions permeate in single file through the selectivity filter, a narrow pore lined by backbone ...

The design of new calcium channels, built bottom-up from scratch, was reported last week in Nature. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest sci-tech news updates. Ion channels generate electrical ...

Ion channels are attractive drug targets due to their importance in health and disease, but finding ways to target a specific ion channel selectively is a major challenge. Now, researchers have ...

The study, published in Materials Today, details how these membranes could significantly improve energy efficiency and operational stability. Precisely engineered in both pore size and surface ...

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 ...

(Phys.org)—One of the mysteries in biology is how cells can selectively diffuse potassium across a membrane. Biological systems rely on a delicate balance between these potassium and sodium ion ...