Christopher Miller to present "Membrane Weirdness" Feb. 18

Date: Feb. 18, 2008
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Gottwald Science Center Auditorium

Dr. Christopher Miller, professor of biochemistry at Brandeis University, will be presenting "Membrane Weirdness: Molecular Confusion Between Chloride Channels and Chloride Pumps" on Monday, February 18th at 4:00 p.m. as part of the Gottwald Science Seminar Series.  Refreshments will be served at 3:45 p.m.

Dr. Miller's research is aimed at understanding the molecular and structural underpinnings of the generation of cellular electricity. This cellular electricity (present in neuron firing, muscle contractions and hormone secretions, to name a few phenomena) is mediated by a single class of membrane proteins: ion channels. Dr. Miller's recent research has shown that a bacterial homologue of the Cl- channel family is not itself an ion channel, but rather functions as an ion "pump," stoichiometrically exchanging Cl- on one side of the membrane for H+ on the other. Using a combination of electrophysiology, membrane reconstitution, and x-ray crystallography, Dr. Miller's research group attempts to understand how these transport proteins work.

This lecture is made possible by the HHMI programs at Richmond.

Posted February 12, 2008