TRP channels, Nobel prizes and Automated Patch Clamp

The breakthrough discoveries in this year’s Nobel Prize laureates for physiology or medicine enable us to understand how heat, cold and mechanical forces can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world around us. Read more about this year’s laureates here.

At Sophion, we are excited that the prize again this year goes to laureates working in the field of ion channels.

TRP channels are critical for our ability to perceive temperature and also play important roles in nociception, including neuropathic &  inflammatory pain pathways. The Piezo channels endow us with the sense of touch and the ability to feel the position and movement of our body parts (proprioception).

Of course, we have worked on these ion channels for years. While our research at Sophion does not qualify for a Nobel prize (at least not yet), nonetheless, we are proud that our systems contribute to the further understanding of the functionality of these vital membrane proteins.

In honour of this year’s laureates and for those of you that would like to learn more about TRP channels, we have gathered some TRP-themed videos from previous Sophion ICMS symposia for you to watch over morning coffee. If you want to learn even more, check out the list of peer-reviewed publications, application reports and posters below.

As always, if interested in setting up new assays on your QPatch II or Qube 384 or optimizing your existing assay, we recommend discussing this with your dedicated (soon to be laureated?) Application Scientist.

Publications

• Barilli A, Aldegheri L, Bianchi F, Brault L, Brodbeck D, Castelletti L, et al. From High-Throughput Screening to Target Validation: Benzo[d]isothiazoles as Potent and Selective Agonists of Human Transient Receptor Potential Cation Channel Subfamily M Member 5 Possessing In Vivo Gastrointestinal Prokinetic Activity in Rodents. J Med Chem [Internet]. 2021 May 13 [cited 2021 Jul 6];64(9):5931–55. LINK
• Damann N, Bahrenberg G, Stockhausen H, Habermann CJ, Lesch B, Frank-Foltyn R, et al. In vitro characterization of the thermoneutral transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV1) inhibitor GRTE16523. Eur J Pharmacol [Internet]. 2020;871:172934.
• McPate M, Bhalay G, Beckett M, Fairbrother S, Gosling M, Groot-Kormelink PJ, et al. The development of automated patch clamp assays for canonical transient receptor potential channels TRPC3, 6, and 7. Assay Drug Dev Technol. 2014 Jun;12(5):282–92.
• Sunesen M, Jacobsen RB. Study of TRP Channels by Automated Patch Clamp Systems. In: Islam MS, editor. Transient Receptor Potential Channels [Internet]. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 2011. p. 107–23.

Application reports and posters

• Jensen 2008. TRPM8 tested on QPatch. Sophion Application Report.
• Jacobsen et al., 2011. TRPV1 tested on QPatch. Sophion Application Report.
• Jensen 2012. TRPM8 cold-sensitive ion channels tested on QPatch. Sophion Application Report
• Jacobsen et al. 2010 TRP’ing in multi-hole mode. Poster Biophysics 2010.
• Chakrabarti et al., 2019. In vitro inflammatory knee pain: Of Mice and Men.

Sophion ICMS talks:

• TRPC1 as a negative regulator for TRPC4 and TRPC5 channels. Professor Insuk So, Seoul National University, Korea. ICMS 2019 Cambridge UK.
• Structural basis for pharmacological modulation of the TRPC6 channel elucidated by cryo-EM. Dr Yonghong Bai, Amgen. ICMS 2019, Boston, USA.
• Redox biology of TRP channels. Professor Yasuo Mori, Kyoto University, Japan. ICMS 2018 Cambridge UK.
• Piezo1 channel function and small-molecule modulation. Professor David Beech, Leeds University, UK. ICMS 2018 Cambridge UK.