Project Grant R00GM147529

This Project Grant award of $249,000, made by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), supports fundamental research into potassium (K+) channel structural dynamics. The research, conducted at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in St. Louis, Missouri, from March 1, 2026 through February 28, 2029, investigates the real-time structural mechanisms underlying ion selectivity and gating in K+ channels—transmembrane proteins critical to cellular ion regulation. The project employs advanced biophysical techniques including single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET), hyperspectral imaging, electrophysiology, and molecular dynamics simulations to characterize how the selectivity filter dynamically responds to the presence or absence of potassium ions.

The research program is structured in two phases: a K99 phase focusing on selectivity filter dynamics using non-selective and K+-selective channel models, and an R00 phase that expands the work to encompass broader structural dynamics of channel gating mechanisms. By combining established ion channel biophysics expertise with newly developed single-molecule and computational approaches, the project aims to provide critical mechanistic insights into ion channel function, thereby advancing fundamental understanding of biological processes and potentially laying groundwork for future therapeutic interventions related to ion channel dysfunction.