Research Training
Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, 1994-1998
Postdoctoral Fellow, State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1992-1994

Education
Ph.D., Physiology & Biophysics, State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1992
M.S., Biophysics, Peking University, 1986
B.S., Physics, Peking University, 1983

• Cui Lab

Cui Lab
 
Ion channels are the molecular units of electrical activity in all cell types. Bioelectricity is generated and modulated as different types of channels open and close in response to various stimuli, such as the binding of a neurotransmitter from outside the cell, a second messenger from inside the cell, or a change in the voltage across the membrane. My research interests focus on the mechanisms underlying conformational changes that occur as the channels open and close and on the interaction of ion channels with other molecules during cellular electrical activity. The approach in our research is to use a combination of molecular biology, protein biochemistry, patch clamp techniques, and biophysical analysis and kinetic modeling. This approach allows us to manipulate channel protein structure, estimate the number of distinct conformational states of the channel protein, and determine the energy associated with the transitions among these states. Current projects involve two potassium channels: 1) The BK type calcium-activated potassium channels, which are important in, among other physiological processes, the control of blood vessel diameter and neurotransmitter release. They are implicated in hypertension and epilepsy; 2) The I_KS potassium channels that play a key role in the rhythmic control of the heart rate. Defects in the channel protein have been shown to cause severe inherited cardiac arrhythmias that often lead to syncope and sudden death.

• Jianmin Cui - ion channels in physiology and disease, channel structure-function relationship, electrophysiology, molecular biology

• Kelli Delaloye

• Lei Hu

• Urvi Lee

• Hua Pan

• Akansha Saxena

• Jingyi Shi

• Dick Wu

• Huanghe Yang

• Junqiu Yang

• Guohui Zhang

• 301B Quantitative Physiology II

• 575 Special Topics: Molecular Basis Of Bioelectrical Excitation

• Graduate Admissions Committee (Member)

• Graduate Curriculum Committee (Member)

• Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences (Member)