Decoding Ion Channels Structure and Function

Dr. Rosenhouse-Dantsker’s M.Sc. and D.Sc. theses in chemistry focused on quantum theory at the interface of chemistry, physics, and mathematics. After continuing in this direction for several years as a postdoctoral fellow, she became interested in research at the interface of chemistry, biology, and medicine. Pursuing postdoctoral training at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New-York, she first performed computational biology research on G protein-coupled receptors and then delved into experimental research in the ion channel field. Since 2002, Dr. Rosenhouse-Dantsker’s research has focused on the modulation of potassium channels by ions, proteins, and lipids using a combination of experimental and computational approaches. Her research has been published in Nature Chemical Biology, PNAS, J Neuroscience, J Lipid Research, and JBC, among other leading journals. In 2008, Dr. Rosenhouse-Dantsker joined the University of Illinois Chicago where she is now a Clinical Associate Professor. Dr. Rosenhouse-Dantsker has co-edited two volumes on the modulation of protein function by cholesterol (Springer), and served as the editor of Cholesterol and PI(4,5)P2 in Vital Biological Functions: From Coexistence to Crosstalk (Springer).

• Applications to ion channel research computational approaches.- The ion conduction mechanism in potassium channels.- The molecular dynamics of potassium channel permeation selectivity and gating.- Delineating channel inactivation through molecular dynamics simulations and network analysis.- Molecular determinants of voltage dependent gating in potassium channels.- Integrating machine learning based quantitative structure activity relationship models and molecular modeling in developing inhibitors with reduced activity.- Computer aided drug design for the cardiac potassium channel.- Structure function studies of the potassium channel in vitro and in vivo.- Structure Function studies of .-dependent Exchangers encoded by the Gene Family.- CryoEM studiesof the Structure-Functional Properties of the.- SLC4 Membrane Transporter.- Combining CryoEM and kinetic measurements to study the cyclic nucleotide gated K+ channel SthK and the calcium gated K+ channel MthK.- Employing voltage clamp fluorometry to study agonist efficacy dependent structural alterations in the glycine receptor chloride channel.- Integrating computational and experimental methods to study ion channel function and modulation.- Combining experimental and computational tools to identify polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) interaction sites on the cardiac potassium channel KCNQ1.- Experimental and theoretical studies of the mitochondrial beta-barrel channel VDAC.- Voltage gating of the voltage-dependent anion channel computational and experimental synergies.- Combining experimental and computational approaches for identifying substrate binding sites in SLC4 transporters.- Integrating experimental and computational approaches to delineate the gating mechanism of Kir channel.