ion channel – TechConnect Briefs

Highly passivated silicon chips with micron aperture for the pA measurements of single ion channels

Varnier A., Plénat T., Ghenim L., Marcel-Kermarrec F., Picollet-d’Hahan N., Agache V., Sauter F., Chatelain F., Fuchs A., CEA-Grenoble, FR

Detection of single channel activities on a high throughput device is of major interest for pharmaceutical industries developing new drugs targeting ion channels. A silicon chip, with 9 silicon membranes having a micron aperture each, [...]

Integrated Techniques for Transmembrane Protein Sensing

Wilk S.J., Petrossian L., Goryll M., Thornton T.J., Goodnick S.M., Tang J.M., Eisenberg R.S., Arizona State University, US

We present a method for the microfabrication of apertures in a silicon substrate using well-known cleanroom technologies and a novel approach using phase sensitive detection to measure single channels of transmembrane proteins. These proteins are [...]

Assessment of the dielectric properties of drug sensitive and resistant leukaemic cells before and after ion channel blockers using dielectrophoresis

Duncan L., Shelmerdine H., Coley H.M., Labeed F.H., University of Surrey, UK

Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is a phemomenon of induced particle motion in non-uniform electric fields. The effect is frequency dependent; by monitoring the motion of particles in AC fields and ananlysing the change in motion with frequency, [...]

Ion Channel Simulations by the TR-PNP Model and the Excess Chemical Potential Approach

Hu S., Hess K., Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US

We describe a new method referred to as TR-PNP model to study general types of nanostructure ion channels. Our method extends the common continuum methods to include particle like properties, such as the ion trapping [...]

A Multi-scale, Integrative Model of Cellular Electrophysiological Response Incorporating Intra/Extra-cellular Transport & Dynamics

Feng J.J., Krishnamoorthy S., Sundaram S., CFD Research Corporation, US

Spurred by the growing confluence of nano and bio technologies, several novel micro/nano platforms (see for example, whole cell patch clamp devices [1]) are emerging for the high-throughput and/or high-fidelity study of the electrophysiological response [...]

Application of Grid Focusing Methodology to Transport Monte Carlo Model for Ion Channel Simulations

Kathawala G.A., van der Straaten T., Ravaioli U., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US

Simulation of Ion Channels has long been an outstanding research problem in the biophysical community. Our transport Monte Carlo model BioMOCA is a particle based approach where we treat water implicitly. It has been used [...]

Micro-Patterning of Ionic Reservoirs within a Double Bilayer Lipid Membrane to Fabricate a 2D Array of Ion-Channel Switch Based Electrochemical Biosensors

Sansiñena J.M., Yee C.K., Sapuri A., Swanson B.I., Redondo A., Parikh A.N., Los Alamos National Laboratory, US

We present a simple approach for the design of ionic reservoir arrays within a double phospholipid bilayer to ultimately develop a 2D array of ion-channel switch based electrochemical biosensors. As a first step, a primary [...]

Hybrid MD-PNP Simulations of the Alpha-Hemolysin Open Ion Currents

Cozmuta I., O'Keeffe J.T., Stolc V., Eloret Corp, NASA Ames Research Center, US

Recent experimental studies have used the alpha hemolysin protein as a model system to decipher ionic signature patterns in the genetic code of nucleic acids. These studies show that single stranded nucleic acids polymers can [...]

Brownian Dynamics Based Particle Mesh Simulation of Ionic Soulutions and Channels

Millar C., Asenov A., Roy S., Glasgow University, UK

We present a methods based around the Self Constistent solution of the coupled Langevin/Poisson equations for the simulation of ionic solutions.

Ion Channel Based Biosensors: Ionic transport in carbon nanotubes

Joseph S., Mashl R.J., Jacobsson E., Aluru N.R., Beckman Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, US

Transport of molecules through macromolecular pores is of considerable importance in many biological and nano-electromechanical systems. Ion channels found in cell membranes are crucial for shaping electrical signals and controlling flow of ions and fluids [...]