Tag Archives: william catterall

How living cells solved a needle in a haystack problem to generate electrical signals

Scientists have figured out how calcium channels – the infinitesimal cell membrane pores that generate electrical signals by gating a charged-particle influx – have solved a “needle in a haystack” problem.

The solution to the longstanding riddle is reported in the Nov. 24 advanced online edition of Nature by UW and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. Dr. Ning Zheng, a noted X-ray crystallographer, and Dr. William Catterall, a pioneer in ion channel research, were the senior researchers, and Dr. Lin Tang and Dr. Tamer Gamal El-Din headed the project. (more…)

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