Integrated approaches
to ion transport

Ions act as nutrients, osmoticum and signalling molecules but may also exert toxic effects. Our team studies the role of ion transport across biological membranes in cell homeostasis, communication and plant interactions with the environment.

A complete characterization of ion transport systems addressing their ion selectivity, their transport mechanism and their regulation at the molecular level is necessary to understand their integrated function.

We use electrophysiology and expression in heterologous systems to investigate the properties of ion transport systems at the molecular level. To integrate this molecular knowledge in a cellular framework, we are developing biosensors and microfluidics coupled to fluorescence microscopy. Molecular genetics and genomics allow us to further integrate the function of ion transport systems at organism and environmental levels.