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Robert
O. Blaustein, M.D., Ph.D. |
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Assistant Professor of Medicine
Neuroscience, Biochemistry
robert.blaustein@tufts.edu
The overarching theme of my laboratory
is the relationship between structure and function in potassium
channels. We are currently focusing on the archetypal Shaker
potassium channel as well as the KCNQ family of potassium channels (KvLQT1 and HERG). These latter channels
co-assemble with single-transmembrane proteins of the KCNE family
to form complexesthat mediate repolarization in heart cells and that have been
implicated in congenital and acquired cardiac rhythm disorders.
Some of the questions we are trying to answer include: How is
voltage sensing coupled to protein movement? What is the nature
of the interaction between the KCNQ channels and their KCNE
partner proteins—what is the KCNQ/KCNE stoichiometry and
what is the disposition of KCNE within the channel complex?
In pursuing these topics we take a multifaceted approach by
combining a number of techniques—molecular tape-measures
that we synthesize, molecular biology, biochemistry and electrophysiology.
Visit
the Blaustein research web site |
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