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Ion channels are membrane proteins responsible for an enormous range of biological functions. Ion selectivity and permeation are based on simple laws of physics and chemistry. Ion channels are therefore ideal candidates for physical…
The inactivation of a Na+ channel occurs when the activation of the charged S4 segment of domain DIV is followed by the binding of an intracellular hydrophobic motif which blocks conduction through the ion pore. The voltage dependence of…
We use Brownian dynamics simulations to study the permeation properties of a generic electrostatic model of a biological ion channel as a function of the fixed charge $Q_f$ at its selectivity filter. We reconcile the recently-discovered…
We report self-consistent Brownian dynamics simulations of a simple electrostatic model of the selectivity filters (SF) of calcium ion channels. They reveal regular structure in the conductance and selectivity as functions of the fixed…
Dravet syndrome is a developmental and epileptic encephalopathy, characterized by the early onset of drug-resistant seizures and various comorbidities. Most cases of this severe and complex pathology are due to mutations of NaV1.1, a sodium…
We investigate the possible influence of poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the lipid bilayer of cell membranes on the conduction properties of the selectivity filter of voltage gated ion channels. Any change of this conductivity can…
The mechanism behind the high throughput rate in K$^{+}$ channels is still an open problem. Recent simulations have shown that the passage of potassium through the K$^{+}$ channel core, the so-called selectivity filter (SF), is water-free…
We investigated Capacitance-Voltage (C-V) characteristics of the Depletion Mode Buried Channel InGaAs/InAs Quantum Well FET by using Self-Consistent method incorporating Quantum Mechanical (QM) effects. Though the experimental results of…
For ion channel gating, the appearance of two distinct conformational states and the discrete transitions between them is essential, and therefore of crucial importance to all living organisms. We show that the physical interplay between…
A discrete electrostatic/diffusion model has been developed to describe the selective permeation of ion channels, based on ionic Coulomb blockade (ICB) and quantised dehydration (QD). It has been applied to describe selectivity phenomena…
We calculate the nonlinear cotunneling conductance through interacting quantum dot systems in the deep Coulomb blockade regime using a rate equation approach based on the T-matrix formalism, which shows in the concerned regions very good…
In the present study, the ionic transport and selectivity of electrokinetically-driven flow of power-law fluids in a long pH-regulated rectangular nanochannel are analyzed. The electrical potential and momentum equations are numerically…
Recent advances in nanofluidics have allowed exploration of ion transport down to molecular scale confinement, yet artificial porins are still far from reaching the advanced functionalities of biological ion machinery. Achieving single ion…
In the quest of green energy, Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) have drawn considerable attention for chemical-to-electric energy conversion. In the present paper, we report an enhancement of ionic conductivity in Cu2P2-xVxO7 by vanadium…
Voltage-gated ion channels mediate electrical excitability of cellular membranes. Reduced models of the voltage sensor (VS) of Kv channels produce insight into the electrostatic physics underlying the response of the highly positively…
The non-selective voltage activated cation channel from the human red cells, which is activated at depolarizing potentials, has been shown to exhibit counter-clockwise gating hysteresis. We have analyzed the phenomenon with the simplest…
Ion channels form pores across the lipid bilayer, selectively allowing inorganic ions to cross the membrane down their electrochemical gradient. While the study of ion desolvation free-energies have attracted much attention, the role of…
We have theoretically investigated the transport properties of a ring-shaped array of small tunnel junctions, which is weakly coupled to the drain electrode. We have found that the long range interaction together with the semi-isolation of…
Potassium channels play critical roles in many physiological processes, providing a selective permeation route for K+ ions in and out of a cell, by employing a carefully designed selectivity filter, evolutionarily conserved from viruses to…
The KcsA potassium channel belongs to a class of K+ channels that is selective for K+ over Na+ at rates of K+ transport approaching the diffusion limit. This selectivity is explained thermodynamically in terms of favorable partitioning of…