Crystal Archer
University of Arkansas, AR·Biophysics·Early-career
Nerve cells need brakes to avoid firing out of control. M channels are one such brake.
- Fields
Biophysics
Biochemistry
Neuroscience
- Topics
M channel
Kv7.2
ion channel
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Solve the solution structure of the purified Kv7.2 C-terminal region, the channel's internal tail where helper molecules bind, using advanced 3D and 4D NMR spectroscopy.
- Use NMR spectra to measure how tightly PIP2, a membrane lipid, binds Kv7.2 and define the ratio and mode of binding at its multiple sites.
- Determine how PKC-dependent phosphorylation at S520 and S527 within the B helix shifts the interplay between calmodulin and PIP2 binding to Kv7.2.
More about the research
They are pores that let potassium out of neurons, and when they fail the result can be epilepsy. Over 80 mutations in Kv7.2, one of the protein parts that build M channels, are a main cause of epilepsy in newborns. Many of these mutations sit where helper molecules attach to control the channel. How those helpers work together is still unclear.
Why it matters
Faulty M channels can cause seizures, and mutations in Kv7.2 are a primary cause of neonatal epilepsy. A detailed picture of how phosphate tags, calmodulin and PIP2 regulate the channel's structure could help guide improved therapies for epilepsy and other disorders of excessive nerve excitability.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Naoto Hoshi
University of California-Irvine, CA·Pharmacology
Identify potent compounds that stabilize the binding of Kv7 potassium channels to PIP2, a membrane lipid the channel needs, using a newly developed in silico (computer-based) screening process.
Sergi Simo
University of California-Davis, CA·Neuroscience
Determine how the E3 ubiquitin ligase CRL5 regulates the activity of PIP5K and PI3K, the enzymes that make the signaling lipids PIP2 and PIP3, in neocortical projection neurons.
Aurelio Galli
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Neuroscience
Determine how the N-terminus of the human dopamine transporter binds syntaxin 1 (Stx1), a membrane protein involved in neurotransmitter release, and how amphetamine-induced phosphorylation of Stx1 controls this binding.
The school
University of Arkansas: 12 labs on PI Pages, $231M a year on research, 179 research doctorates a year.
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