Professor Anastasios (Tasso) Tzingounis has received a $1.7 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services to study the physiological role of two potassium channels, KCNQ2 and KCNQ3, in the brain.

Read more below.

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Anna Zarra Aldrich, Office of the Vice President for Research

University of Connecticut physiology and neurobiology professor Anastasios Tzingounis has received a $1.7 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services to study the physiological role KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 potassium channels, ion channels implicated in neonatal and infantile epilepsy disorders, in the brain. Such work will provide an improved understanding of innate mechanisms that prevent aberrant activity in the brain and could lead to the development of novel anti-epileptic drugs.

The KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 genes code for potassium channels in the brain that transport positively-charged potassium ions which are necessary for the normal function of neurons. Dr. Tzingounis’s research group will conduct a series of studies to better understand the function and properties of KCNQ2/3 potassium channels in cell types that are crucial for shaping the activity of the brain and promote the development of neural networks necessary for mentation.

Dr. Tzingounis laboratory addresses questions related to molecular and cellular neuroscience using a combination of experimental approaches including mouse genetics, electrophysiology and microscopy. He received his PhD from the Vollum Institute at OHSU and did his postdoctoral work at UCSF.

In parallel to these studies, Dr. Tzingounis is also working with physiology and neurobiology professor Dr. Daniel Mulkey to study the link between KCNQ2 channel dysfunction and severe respiratory problems, issues observed with patients with KCNQ2 encephalopathy. NIH is also funding this new project:  1R01HL137094-01A1.

“KCNQ2/3 Channels and Interneuron Physiology” is NIH project: 1R01NS101596-01A1

(Photo by Bri Diaz, UConn College of Liberal Arts and Sciences)