Signal Transduction by Neurotransmitters in Brain and Heart in Health and Disease Electrical activity of excitable cells is their most important feature, which allows the performance of fundamental functions of brain, heart and muscle. We are addressing a key issue in modern cardiology and neurobiology: how neurotransmitters regulate cardiac cells and neurons by acting on ion channels – proteins that underlie the electrical activity in these cells; and how errors in these processes cause disease. Main projects in the lab include: Function and regulation of receptors, G proteins, Ca2+ and K+ channels in health and disease; Ion channel-related hereditary cardiac and neurological disorders (channelopathies); Mechanisms of coupling of G protein-coupled receptors with effectors; Molecular mechanisms of bipolar disorder. Research methods: Electrophysiology, Neurophysiology, Heterologous Expression, Protein Biochemistry, Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET), Molecular biology, Mathematical and Kinetic Modeling and Simulation, Immunocytochemistry