Self-Assembled Synthetic Ion Channels: Design, Characterization and Biomedical Applications

Ion transport across membranes is one of the most important biological processes of all living cells. Ion channel proteins that selectively regulate ion flows are involved in many physiological processes ranging from neuronal signaling, muscle contraction, and cardiovascular function to immune response. Dysfunction of ion channels has been associated with many severe human diseases such as cystic fibrosis, asthma, hypertension, epilepsy and myocardial infarction. Therefore, developing drugs that modulate the functions of ion channels or regulate ion transport across cell membranes have received significant attentions in pharmaceutical industry. Each year over US$6 billion are generated from the sales of drugs associated with ion channel functions. Most of those drugs affect the functions of natural calcium, sodium or potassium channels through direct binding. In this talk, I will report our recent discovery of small molecules that self-assemble into synthetic ion channels that transport small anions or cations across biological membranes and their potential biomedical applications. These synthetic ion channels can mediate ion flow across plasma membranes of living cells with remarkably high efficiency, independent of natural ion channels. They are easy to synthesize and their pharmacological properties can be readily modified for therapeutic applications. Explorations on their potential biomedical applications will also be presented