Sterol Regulation of Ion Channels

Irena Levitan, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine and Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She received her PhD in Biophysics and Neurobiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1994 and completed postdoctoral training at the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Institute for Medicine and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on the biophysical properties of endothelial membranes and sub-membrane cytoskeleton. Specifically, the studies of her group, which combine computational and experimental biophysical approaches, provided the first comprehensive structural insights into cholesterol regulation of K+ channels. In 2012, she was named a Guyton Distinguished Lecturer “for her quantitative and biophysical work on cholesterol modulation of ion channels and how this can affect integrated organ function”. She and her group also discovered a paradoxical relationship between fluidity/deformability of the membrane and cell stiffness. In 2018, she was elected a Fellow of AIMBE for “outstanding contributions to our understanding of lipid-ion channel interactions, cellular biomechanics and vascular dysfunction under dyslipidemia”.

Section 1:  Membrane structure and general mechanisms of sterol regulation of ion channels 1. Relevance of CARC and CRAC Cholesterol-Recognition Motifs in the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor and Other Membrane-Bound Receptors Coralie Di Scala, Carlos J. Baier, Luke S. Evans, Philip T.F. Williamson, Jacques Fantini and Francisco J. Barrantes 2. Differential Effects of Sterols on Ion Channels: Stereospecific Binding vs Stereospecific Response Nicolas Barbera, Manuela A.A. Ayee, Belinda S. Akpa and Irena Levitan

Section 2:  Structural Determinants of Cholesterol-Ion Channels Interactions 3. Regulation of Ca2+-Sensitive K+ Channels by Cholesterol and Bile Acids via Distinct Channel Subunits and Sites Alex M. Dopico and Anna N. Bukiya 4. The Role of Cholesterol in the Activation of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors John E. Baenziger, Jaimee A. Domville and J.P. Daniel Therien 5. Multiple Mechanisms of Regulation of Transient Receptor Potential Ion Channels by Cholesterol Sara L. Morales-Lázaro and Tamara Rosenbaum 6. Direct Interactions of Cholesterol With Pentameric Ligand-Gated Ion Channels: Testable Hypotheses From Computational Predictions Grace Brannigan 7. Insights Into the Molecular Requirements for Cholesterol Binding to Ion Channels Avia Rosenhouse-Dantsker

Section 3: Emerging Topics of Cholesterol Regulation of Ion Channels 8. Regulation of P2X Purinergic Receptor Signaling by Cholesterol Ruth D. Murrell-Lagnado 9. Depletion of Membrane Cholesterol Suppresses Drosophila Transient Receptor Potential-Like (TRPL) Channel Activity Maximilian Peters, Ben Katz, Shaya Lev, Rachel Segura, Rita Gutorov and Baruch Minke 10. Sterol Regulation of Voltage-Gated K+ Channels Andras Balajthy, Peter Hajdu, Gyorgy Panyi and Zoltan Varga