Our research focuses on how ion channels and membrane excitability contribute to physiology and disease. A particular area of interest is understanding how intracellular Ca2+, the ultimate signal of membrane excitability, regulates membrane excitability and the consequent function of excitable cells.
We have discovered and described multiple mechanisms that control Ca2+ influx through voltage-gated Ca2+ channels and feedback mechanisms by which internal calcium also regulates other channels.
Our work has entailed structure-function analyses of ion channels and their regulatory subunits and studies of mutations that lead to inherited channelopathies such as cardiac arrhythmias and epilepsy.