Page 32 - CBAC Newsletter 2016
P. 32
CBAC Faculty I moved to Washington University in St. Louis in 2004 from
Case Western University, and I have been on the faculty of
Spotlight the Department of Biomedical Engineering since then. I was
an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical
Jianmin Cui, Ph.D. Engineering at Case Western University before coming here.
I moved here in the hope to find new research directions and
Professor of Biomedical Engineering opportunities given the larger research community here,
and I did.
ion channels & drug therapy
My lab studies ion channels. Ion channels are proteins in the
Education: cell membrane that pass ion fluxes across the membrane.
• 1983 B.S., Physics The activities of these molecules generate electrical signals in
cells that are essential for the function of almost all organs
Peking University, Beijing, China including nerve, heart, lung, blood vessel, kidney, skeletal
• 1986 M.S., Biophysics muscle and immune systems. Consequently, aberrant ion
channel function is linked to many human diseases and ion
Peking University, Beijing, China channels are important drug targets for therapeutics. Ion
• 1992 Ph.D., Physiology & Biophysics channels sense physical and chemical cell signals to open
State University of New York and close, and their exquisite molecular mechanisms are
Stony Brook, NY major interests of basic research. My lab is interested in the
• 1994 Postdoctoral Scholar, fundamental mechanisms of how ion channels sense stimuli
Physiology & Biophysics such as voltage, intracellular signaling molecules, and
State University of New York ultrasound and then open in response to these stimuli.
Stony Brook, NY We are also interested in understanding the molecular
• 1998 Postdoctoral Scholar mechanisms for how mutations in ion channel proteins link to
Molecular & Cellular Physiology diseases. The third area of our interests is to develop novel
Stanford University, CA approaches to discover compounds that modify ion channel
function and can be used as drugs for treating ion channel
Research Interests: associated diseases.
• Molecular Mechanisms of
Ion Channel Activation I grew up in China. In those years, Chinese society was full
• Ion Channels in Association With of changes and turmoil, and an individual’s career could be
Diseases shaped by many turns of events but not by his or her own
• Discovery of Channel-Modifying choice. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go to college
Compounds and then come to the US for graduate school, and it was in
graduate school that I decided to pursue a research career in
28 | CBAC Center Heartbeat academia.
However, I am pretty sure that my research interests in bio-
physics may have developed a lot earlier. In my childhood, I
lived in a suburb and I spent much time playing in the woods
and fields. The many forms of animals, insects and plants
were a huge attraction and source of fascination for me.
