Biophysics of ion channels

Insvestigator : Gildas Loussouarn, Isabelle Baro, Michel De Waard
PhD student : Malak Alameh
Support staff : Béatrice Ollivier

In our previous works, we have shown, in heterologous expression systems, that intracellular peptides mimicking regions of voltage-gated potassium (Kv7.1, Kv11.1, Kv10.2) and sodium (Nav1.4) channels can modulate the activity of these channels. The next goal is to test a potential therapeutic application. To this end, we will use human cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells to test whether Kv11.1-specific activating peptides can be used to correct dysfunctions in Kv11.1 (hERG) channels, due to mutations identified in patients presenting with type 2 Long QT syndrome.

Learn more about our projects

• Genavie : Gildas Loussouarn ( 2019-2023)

Predicting hERG repolarization power at 37°C from recordings at room temperature. Oliveira-Mendes BBR, Alameh M, Montnach J, Ollivier B, Gibaud S, Feliciangeli S, Lesage F, Charpentier F, Loussouarn G, De Waard M, Baró I. Clin Transl Med. 2023 May

Disruption of a Conservative Motif in the C-Terminal Loop of the KCNQ1 Channel Causes LQT Syndrome. Karlova M, Abramochkin DV, Pustovit KB, Nesterova T, Novoseletsky V, Loussouarn G, Zaklyazminskaya E, Sokolova OS. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jul

Editorial: Molecular Mechanisms of Voltage-Gating in Ion Channels. Loussouarn G, Tarek M. Front Pharmacol. 2021, eCollection 2021.

Up-regulation of voltage-gated sodium channels by peptides mimicking S4-S5 linkers reveals a variation of the ligand-receptor mechanism. Malak OA, Abderemane-Ali F, Wei Y, Coyan FC, Pontus G, Shaya D, Marionneau C, Loussouarn G. Sci Rep. 2020

Voltage-dependent activation in EAG channels follows a ligand-receptor rather than a mechanical-lever mechanism. Malak OA, Gluhov GS, Grizel AV, Kudryashova KS, Sokolova OS, Loussouarn G. J Biol Chem 2019

• Genavie