Manu Ben Johny
Columbia University, NY·Biophysics
Nerve cells and heart cells depend on ion channels, protein pores in the cell membrane that open to let charged atoms like calcium or sodium flow in. This flow triggers neurotransmitter release in the brain and nerves, and it sets the heartbeat.
- Fields
Biophysics
Physiology
Neuroscience
- Topics
ion channels
calcium channels
CaV2.1
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Jan 2031
What they work on
- Determine whether CaV2.1 and CaV2.2 calcium channels are S-palmitoylated, carrying an attached lipid group, in central and peripheral neurons, and how this modification alters channel activity.
- Engineer depalmitoylases, lipid-removing enzymes targeted to the channel complex, to selectively tune CaV2.1/2.2 function and reverse disease-linked channel changes.
- Identify unconventional proteins that modulate the cardiac calcium channel CaV1.2 using a new functional screening approach.
- Dissect how Lrrc10 and Junctophilin-2 regulate CaV1.2 and how cardiomyopathy-linked mutations disrupt this, using human genomic data from the Pakistan Genome Resource.
- Define how FHF isoforms suppress late sodium current through NaV1.5, using a FRET assay and single-channel recordings, in patient iPSC-derived and mouse heart cells.
- Develop peptide-based inhibitors of pathogenic late sodium current based on the mechanism by which FHF regulates NaV1.5.
More about the research
When these channels are misregulated, the results include epilepsy, ataxia, chronic pain, arrhythmias and heart failure. All three projects ask how cells fine-tune these channels through attached molecules or partner proteins. They also ask how that knowledge could be used to build tools that correct faulty channels.
Why it matters
These projects could point to new ways to correct faulty ion channels in people with epilepsy, ataxia, chronic pain, arrhythmias such as long QT syndrome, cardiomyopathy and heart failure. Engineered depalmitoylases might lead to more selective, non-opioid pain approaches, and peptide inhibitors of late sodium current could become starting points for heart rhythm therapies. The methods for targeting palmitoylation may also extend to many other lipid-modified proteins.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Targeted Depalmitoylation of Presynaptic CaV channels in Health and Disease
NIH · Feb 2026 – Jan 2031
Illuminating the function regulome of cardiac L-type Ca2+ channels in health and disease
NIH · May 2023 – Apr 2028
Mechanism-inspired Strategies to Prevent Pathogenic Late Na Current in Cardiac Arrhythmias
NIH · Feb 2023 – Nov 2026
Closest labs
Henry M. Colecraft
Columbia University, NY·Physiology
Elucidate how the inhibitory G-protein Rad is targeted to CaV1.2 calcium channels in heart cells, and how its release by protein kinase A raises calcium current during beta-adrenergic stimulation.
Robert Piper
University of Iowa, IA·Physiology
Produce stably expressing human HEK cell lines that pair individual β subunits (Scn2b, Scn3b, Scn4b) with specific pore-forming NaV α subunits.
Christopher A Ahern
University of Iowa, IA·Biophysics
Develop light-activated photochemical 'stapling' to lock voltage-gated sodium, calcium and potassium channels into key shapes in live cell membranes before purification for structural determination.
The school
Columbia University: 89 labs on PI Pages, $1.4B a year on research, 625 research doctorates a year.
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