Project description
Revealing hidden dynamics in ion channels
Ion channels are proteins. They control the flow of ions across cell membranes and are essential for many bodily functions and diseases. Understanding their behaviour is important for the development of targeted drugs. However, their rare, short-lived high-energy states remain largely unexplored. Funded by the ERC, the OLIGOMERS project uses high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) to study these fleeting states. Early findings suggest a rare pentameric state in the TRPV3 channel that switches reversibly with its normal tetrameric form. Now researchers will explore whether similar transitions occur in other ion channels. OLIGOMERS will check how they affect function, and their biological significance. Findings will open new paths for drug development.
Objective
Ion channels are transmembrane proteins regulating ion flux across cell membranes and are crucial for numerous physiological processes. Hence, ion channels are implicated in many diseases. To further drug development targeting ion channels, a comprehensive understanding is needed not only of their low-energy abundant states, but also of their rare and transient high-energy states, which play critical roles in channel function, regulation, and folding. The cutting-edge high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) technique allows now to study such states, by providing simultaneously, on a single-molecule level, both dynamic and structural information of freely diffusing ion channels in the membrane, a feat that is currently impossible with other methods. Recently, I discovered using HS-AFM that the TRPV3 channel possesses a rare and transient pentameric state that reversibly interconverts with its canonical tetrameric sate, potentially conferring it new function. Here, I aim to investigate further the functional role and biological relevance of this finding, while concomitantly investigating if similar oligomeric plasticity occurs in other ion channels of diverse functions. Most particularly, I aim to investigate whether reversible oligomeric changes could be an additional mechanism for ion channels to modulate function. To do so, I will: 1) Discover reversible oligomeric transitions in other ion channels. 2) Reveal how reversible oligomeric transitions could modulate function. 3) Assess the physiological relevance and feasibility of such transitions. Positive results will lead to a paradigm shift in the way we think about the assembly, dynamics, and function of ion channels and introduce a novel new concept of how ion channels undergo conformational changes. Additionally, results will be of high impact to translational applications such as drug development and drug delivery and establish HS-AFM as a powerful complementary method in the field of structural biology.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences physical sciences optics microscopy
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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7610001 Rehovot
Israel
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