Ion Channels as Targets in Drug Discovery

Gary Stephens is Professor of Pharmacology at the School of Pharmacy, University of Reading, United Kingdom.  He is an in vitro electrophysiologist with an interest in voltage-gated calcium channels and G protein-coupled receptors.  He is a Senior Editor with the British Journal of Pharmacology and is on the Editorial Board of Pharmaceuticals.Edward Stevens is Chief Scientific Officer at Metrion Biosciences and has over 20 years’ experience of ion channel drug discovery within the biotech/pharma field.

• Ion Channels as Targets in Drug Discovery: outlook and perspectives.- Conservation of ligand binding between voltage-gated sodium and T-type calcium channels.- The presynaptic α2δ protein family and their therapeutic potential.- Sodium channel in central hyperexcitability disease.- Therapeutic targeting of voltage-gated potassium channels.- The contribution of genetic sequencing information to the identification and functional characterisation of two pore domain (K2P) channels as viable therapeutic targets.- The voltage-gated potassium channel KV2.1 as a multicellular drug target.- Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR)-targeted therapeutics for cystic fibrosis.- Validation of TMEM16A modulation as a therapeutic approach for the treatment of cystic fibrosis – the discovery of novel TMEM16A potentiators.- Targeting acid-sensing ion channels in disease.- Transient Receptor Potential Canonical (TRPC) as a Therapeutic Drug Target.- Nicotinic receptors of the neuronal and non-neuronal cholinergic systems as therapeutic targets: Opportunities and limitations.- Purinergic P2X receptors as therapeutic targets.- Immune Cell Ion Channels as Therapeutic Targets.- Ion channel tools and therapeutics from venoms and toxins.