Project title: Electrophysiology & Modeling of Ligand-gated Ion Channels
Membrane proteins are critical for signaling and transport across membranes, but these processes cannot be accomplished with static structures. To fulfill their functions, channels, transporters, and other membrane proteins undergo transient conformational changes; by their very nature these are quite hard to capture either experimentally or in models. Our lab uses combinations of experimental techniques (in particular electrophysiology, where we measure currents through ion channels) combined with state-of-the-art bioinformatics and molecular simulation to investigate how ion channels work and how this function is explained from different structures and conformational motions. We are particularly interested in ligand-gated channels that open or close in response to small molecules binding in our nerve system and brain, and how these are affected by secondary molecules such as alcohols or anesthetics through allosteric modulation. This is exceptionally important to understand ion channels – and thus our nerve system – on a molecular level, and it also has a wide range of applications in anesthetics and many diseases. The successful candidate will use either biochemistry/physics methods such as molecular biology, microscopy and electrophysiology, where a background in biochemistry or biophysics would be suitable, and/or bioinformatics and molecular simulation where a strong background in theoretical biophysics is important. The ideal candidate would have experience from both fields, and will work in a large team of both experimental and computational researchers.
The Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics is mainly located with the other Departments of Chemistry and Life Sciences in the Arrhenius Laboratories for Natural Sciences, which are situated in the northern part of the University Campus at Frescati. Presently around 190 people are working at the Department of which 85 are PhD students engaged in internationally highly recognized research covering a broad range of subjects. The Department is also deeply involved in teaching, with courses at all undergraduate levels, including a wide range of Master courses. A close link between the undergraduate program and the research projects has since long been a tradition and a trademark of the Department. Three centers are linked to the Department: Stockholm Center for Biomembrane Research, Science for Life Laboratory and Stockholm Bioinformatics Centre. The present project will be placed at the Science for Life Laboratory.
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