Ion Channels and Cell Membranes |
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| Air date: | Monday, December 08, 2008, 12:00:00 PM |
| Category: | Neuroscience |
| Description: | Electrical signals play many roles in the body. They control the pace of the heart, regulate the secretion of hormones into the bloodstream and transfer information from one cell to the next in the nervous system. Dr. MacKinnon's research is aimed at understanding the physical and chemical principles underlying electricity in biology, particularly the passage of inorganic ions, such as potassium and chloride, across cell membranes. They have used mutational analysis to show that potassium channels are tetramers of identical subunits and that specific signature sequence?amino acids are responsible for potassium selectivity. His lab's most recent advance was the elucidation of the atomic structure of a K+ channel from mammalian nerve cells. This first example of a eukaryotic membrane protein structure through recombinant expression opens a new era in the study of membrane proteins from complex organisms. (http://www.rockefeller.edu/research/abstract.php?id=132)
Dr. MacKinnon received his B.A. in biochemistry from Brandeis University and his M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine. He completed medical residency at Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and postdoctoral work at Brandeis. He joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School before moving to Rockefeller in 1996. Dr. MacKinnon is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the recipient of numerous scientific awards, including the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. NIH Neuroscience Seminar Series |
| Author: | Rod Mackinnon, M.D., The Rockefeller University |
| Runtime: | 75 minutes |
| Download: | Download
Video How to download a Videocast |
| CIT File ID: | 14819 |
| CIT Live ID: | 7130 |
| Permanent link: | http://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?14819 |
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Enhanced Audio Podcast | 1:12:18 | ||||
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Enhanced Video Podcast | 1:12:18 | ||||