Ion Channel Screening Using Photoswitches

Ion channels are membrane proteins that allow the selective movement of charged molecules through cellular membranes. Many disease states, such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophies, hypertension, and cardiac arrhythmias are caused by ion channel pathologies. Ion channels have been identified by the drug discovery industry as excellent targets for therapeutic intervention but because of the technical hurdles involved in developing quality, high- throughput functional ion channel assays, the development of ion channel drugs has been disappointing. Photoswitch Biosciences has developed technology, which allows attaching small nanomachines to ion channels enabling rapid and reversible control of these proteins by light. These photoswitched ion channels allow us to non- invasively control cell membrane potential and, hence, the activity of voltage-dependent ion channels. The Specific Aim for the Phase I component of this fast track SBIR project are: (1) Demonstrate the feasibility of using extracellular e