One of the directions of the Molecular Technologies Laboratory is the development of new tools for bioimaging and optogenetics. Yulia Ermakova, Vsevolod Belousov and other lab members, in an article in Chemical Communications, describe a new member of SypHer family of genetically encoded pH indicators, SypHer3s.

Scientists from IBCh RAS together with foreign colleagues discovered that a toxin from the venom of the spider Heriaeus melloteei may serve as a hit in drug discovery for hypokalemic periodic paralysis type 2. The disease is caused by mutations in the gene encoding voltage-gated sodium channels NaV1.4, characteristic of skeletal muscles. As a result of the mutations, these channels conduct aberrant currents, the muscles are unable to respond to the signals of the nervous system, and weakness develops followed by paralysis. Until now, there is no reliable medication for all cases of this disease. The results of the work are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS).

Researchers from the Laboratory of Neuroreceptors and Neuroregulators (group leader - Sergei Kozlov) found alkaloid lindoldhamine in the leaves of the noble laurel, which can activate the human ASIC3 channel at physiological pH.