Conor McClenaghan
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Pharmacology
Potassium channels are pores in cell membranes that let potassium ions flow out of cells. That flow controls electrical signaling throughout the body, so when these channels are faulty the result can be disease, inherited or acquired.
- Fields
Pharmacology
Biophysics
Physiology
- Topics
potassium channels
K+ channels
ion channels
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2031
What they work on
- Develop engineered split-SUR2 subunits, protein pieces of the KATP channel's regulatory partner, that can reassemble and restore ATP-sensitive potassium channel function in vivo, using protein engineering and patch clamp recordings.
- Identify rescue mutations in the Kir2.1 potassium channel that compensate for disease-causing variants, using unbiased genetic mutational screening and molecular evolution approaches.
- Characterize a promiscuous drug-binding site in mechanosensitive TREK K2P channels, a site that binds many different compounds, using electrophysiology and experimental and computational structural biology.
- Determine how the distinctive extracellular cap domain of K2P channels shapes their function and drug responses, combining structural biology with functional measurements.
More about the research
For many rare potassium channel disorders (channelopathies) the faulty gene and protein are already known, yet no targeted therapy exists. This project asks how the physical structure of selected potassium channels sets what they do, and how that knowledge can be used to design new protein-based and small-molecule ways to switch the channels up or down.
Why it matters
Many rare inherited potassium channel disorders have a known faulty gene but no targeted treatment. Engineered SUR2 subunits and rescue mutations could lead toward future gene-therapy strategies for these orphan channelopathies. New small-molecule insights into TREK channels may also guide drug design for this channel family.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Show-Ling Shyng
Oregon Health & Science University, OR·Biophysics
Solve cryo-EM structures of pancreatic, cardiac and vascular KATP channels in closed and open states, to build a complete set showing how the channels open in response to ATP and ADP.
Radha Kalluri
University of Southern California, CA·Neuroscience
Test whether the mix of ion channels in vestibular ganglion neurons explains their regular versus irregular firing, using patch-clamp recordings combined with single-cell labeling of dendrite shape in semi-intact inner-ear tissue.
Richard Martin
Iowa State University, IA·Pharmacology
Measure whether emodepside potently activates KCNMA1, the human BK potassium channel, in HEK293 and CHO cell lines using whole-cell patch-clamp, to judge its potential for side effects.
The school
Rutgers University-New Brunswick: 57 labs on PI Pages, $837M a year on research, 713 research doctorates a year.
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