Millennium Nucleus of Ion Channels-Associated Diseases, Minicad

Ion channels activity regulates both local and discrete changes in membrane potential and long range electrical signaling. Moreover, in addition to their ion conducting functions, ion channels may also serve as scaffolding proteins for organizing macromolecular complexes that can participate in different signaling pathways. Thus, both the activity of ion channels and their protein-protein interactions could be required for defining the role of ion channels in cellular physiology.

The Millennium Nucleus of Ion Channels-Associated Diseases (MiNICAD) constitutes an original multistrategic initiative addressed to develop and design novel and innovative therapeutic tools for ion channels-related diseases. Our research philosophy relies on the premise that ion channels proteins constitute non-canonical, but essential signaling molecules part of the complexity of the cellular and systemic physiology. Thus, our main philosophy is to study those mechanisms not only in a biophysical stand-of- view, but in a cellular and physiological context.

Using diverse strategies, such as proteomics, cellular and molecular biology, electrophysiology and bioinformatics, MiNICAD is interested in unravel the cellular and molecular events that modulate ion channels that are related to pathological conditions. Accordingly, we will focus on identifies novel tissue-specific regulatory mechanisms, study its functional consequences and develop complementary drugs targeting ion
channels or its associated proteins.