Professor Nick Dale has been awarded £1.1million from the MRC for his project ‘Structural and biophysical basis of Connexin26 channel mediated disease'. Dr Alex Cameron and Dr Corinne Smith are co-investigators.

CO₂ is the unavoidable by-product of metabolism and its regulated excretion via breathing is a key homeostatic process. The gap junction protein Connexin26 (Cx26) is an extremely important physiological sensor for CO₂. This project will show how CO₂ binds to Cx26 to gate channel opening thereby providing the structural underpinnings for one of the most important life preserving reflexes: the CO₂-dependent regulation of breathing. Additionally, we will transform mechanistic understanding of how certain Cx26 mutations linked to human pathology alter CO₂ binding. This new knowledge will impact across the many diverse fields of biomedical science where connexins, and in particular Cx26, have important roles in normal and abnormal (patho) physiological function in health and disease.