Channel Therapeutics (CHArT)

Ion channels are biological membrane proteins that control the flux of ions (charged atoms) and play crucial roles in all fundamental cell processes including neurotransmission, gene regulation and sensory transduction. The CHArT working group brings together a community within the Broad Institute of researchers with a special interest in ion channels from both biological and therapeutic perspectives.

Our core activity is a seminar series designed to foster the exchange of scientific ideas and technical expertise, as well as provide opportunities for collaboration particularly within the local Boston research ecosystem. These seminars are held periodically throughout the academic year on selected Tuesdays in the Olympus room. Please write to barresi@broadinstitute.org to be added to our mailing list.

Past CHArT Speakers

SPEAKER	TALK TOPIC
Dr. Bruce Bean Robert Winthrop Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard University	Ion Channels to Control Neuronal Hyperexcitability
Dr. David Corey Bertarelli Professor of Translational Medical Science Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute	A Sound-Activated Ion Channel Complex in the Inner Ear: Understanding and Treating Deafness
Dr. Adam Cohen Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Physics at Harvard University	Applications of optical electrophysiology in disease modeling and pharmacology
Dr. Diomedes Logothetis Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Northeastern University	Small molecule modulators of ion channel and GPCR activity
Dr. Gary Yellen Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School	Reverse engineering a metabolic therapy for epilepsy: BAD and KATP channels in the brain
Dr. Diane Lipscombe Professor of Neuroscience, Director of Brown Institute for Brain Science (BIBS) at Brown University	RNA and DNA binding proteins that regulate cell-specific choice of functional exons in the calcium ion channel CACNA1B gene
Dr. Naoshige Uchida Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University	Multiple dopamine systems: weal and woe of dopamine
Dr. Christopher Miller Professor of Biochemistry at Brandeis University	A weird ion channel for a weird ion: Fluoride resistance in microbiology
Dr. Yiming Zhou affiliated with Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Woman's Hospital	TRP channels in health and disease
Dr. Alfred L. George Jr. Director, Center for Pharmacogenomics Professor of Pharmacology at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine	Decrypting Variants of Unknown Significance in the Channelopathies
Dr. Chinfei Chen Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School	Insights into the Developmental Refinement of Thalamic Circuits
Dr. Clifford Woolf Director, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children’s Hospital Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School	Screening for pain-selective sodium channel blockers
Dr. Jun Chen Senior Scientist and Head of Electrophysiology, Genentech	Evolution of the Nociceptive Ion Channel TRPA1: Functional Divergence and Conservation
Dr. Irina Vetter Deputy Director, Centre for Pain Research, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland	The contribution of NaV isoforms to pain pathways: insight from venom peptides.
Dr. Ricardo Dolmetsch VP and Global Head of Neuroscience, Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research	Developing drugs that modulate ion channels for psychiatric and neurodevelopmental diseases
Dr. Bernardo Sabatini Alice and Rodman W. Moorhead III Professor of Neurobiology, HHMI investigator, Harvard Medical School	Mysteries of Neurotransmission
Dr. Jeffrey R. Holt Director of Research, Otolaryngology, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children's Hospital	Structure, Function and Restoration of TMC1 Channels in Mechanosensory Hair Cells
Dr. Samouil Farhi Broad Institute	Molecular and Optical tools for All-Optical Electrophysiology
Dr. Maofu Liao Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School	High-resolution single-particle cryo-EM and its application in studying membrane proteins
Dr. Michael Levin Vannevar Bush Professor, Biology Department, Director, Allen Discovery Center at Tufts, Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology, Tufts University	Endogenous bioelectric networks enable cell cooperation toward building anatomies and away from cancer: opportunities for electroceuticals
Dr. Hao Wu Asa and Patricia Springer Professor, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital	Structural elucidation of the inflammasome pathway – calcium flux and pore formation
Dr. Elena Oancea Associate Professor of Medical Science, Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology, Brown University	Ion channels in black and white or how does our skin get its color