Guizhen Fan, PhD

Areas of Interest

Research Interests

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM); structural biology; Ion channels

My research is focus on solving structures of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP₃R), an intracellular calcium release channel, in different functional states. Decades of studies have revealed the central role that IP₃Rs have in generating complex intracellular Ca²⁺ signals, which are responsible for many complex physiological processes ranging from gene transcription and secretion to the more enigmatic brain activities such as learning and memory. Given that the channel function is regulated by an array of modulatory molecules, ranging from ions, small chemical compounds and lipids to protein cofactors that shape the amplitude, timing, and duration of IP₃R-mediated Ca²⁺ signals, IP₃R channels are highly dynamic. We aim to use the cryogenic electron microscopy as the primary method to investigate how the modulatory molecules/ligands alter the conformational landscape of channel and propagates ligand-evoked signals to the channel pore.