Ion Channels Down Under

Professor Dom Geraghty graduated with a BSc Honours degree in Pharmacology from the National University of Ireland, University College, Dublin, in 1981, and completed his PhD at Deakin University, Victoria, in 1988. Dominic is president of the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists (ASCEPT) the premier society for the study of medicines and chemicals in our Asia-Pacific region. His primary research interest is the role of TRPV1 channels in health and disease, particularly immune cell and platelet function. He has been at the University of Tasmania for over 25 years where he is currently the Deputy Chair of Academic Senate. Dr Lachlan Rash is a senior lecturer in pharmacology and ion channel researcher at the School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland. After receiving his PhD in Pharmacology at Monash University (Victoria, Australia) studying the pharmacology of Australian spider venoms, he trained in the molecular pharmacology of acid-sensing ion channels and voltage-gated sodium channels in the group of Michel Lazdunski (IMPC-CNRS) in France. His primary research interest is the discovery, characterization, mechanism of action and structure-activity relationships of novel ion channel ligands from animal venoms. This fundamental work underpins projects to develop selective acid-sensing ion channel and voltage-gated sodium channel research tools and potential therapeutic leads in the areas of pain, inflammation and neurodegeneration.

1. GABAA Receptors and the Diversity in their Structure and Pharmacology Han Chow Chua and Mary Chebib 2. Acid-Sensing Ion Channel Pharmacology, Past, Present and Future… Lachlan D. Rash 3. Sodium Channels and Venom Peptide Pharmacology Mathilde Israel, Bryan Tay, Jennifer Deuis and Irina Vetter 4. Role of Non-Neuronal TRPV4 Signaling in Inflammatory Processes Pradeep Rajasekhar, Daniel P. Poole and Nicholas A. Veldhuis 5. Genetically Encoded Calcium Indicators as Probes to Assess the Role of Calcium Channels in Disease and for High-Throughput Drug Discovery John J. Bassett and Gregory R. Monteith 6. TRPV1 Channels in Immune Cells and Hematological Malignancies Sofia Omari, Murray Adams and Dominic Geraghty 7. Modulation of Ion Channels by Cysteine-Rich Peptides: From Sequence to Structure Mehdi Mobli, Eivind A.B. Undheim and Lachlan D. Rash 8. Glycine Receptor Drug Discovery Joseph W. Lynch, Yan Zhang, Sahil Talwar and Argel Estrada-Mondragon 9. Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Pharmacology - Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations Rong Chen, Amanda Buyan and Ben Corry 10. Physiology and Pharmacology of Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channels Angela F. Dulhunty, Philip G. Board, Nicole A. Beard and Marco G. Casarotto