John Riordan, Ph.D.

My research has focused primarily on membrane proteins that provide essential functions in all life forms including humans. These studies have advanced understanding of membrane molecules determining the sensitivity of tumor cells to cancer drugs, the myelination of nerves in the brain, and, prominently, the ion channel protein defective in patients with cystic fibrosis.  My current work is devoted to better understanding the 3D structure and mechanism of action of the ion channel protein CFTR and to developing a means of overcoming or circumventing the protein folding defect caused by the major mutation which causes cystic fibrosis. The gene and protein discovered to be defective in cystic fibrosis is  the same one that has been studied at the functional level in marine organisms at MDIBL for decades, but which had not previously been identified at the molecular level. For the past 15 years, I have come to MDIBL to work primarily on the shark CFTR, which despite the several hundred million years of evolutionary separation from humans, is approximately 70% identical to ours. My current objective is to exploit the differences between the shark or fish CFTRs (these are as different from each other as they are from the human) and the human to be able to better understand and manipulate the latter. This work is ideally undertaken in the MDIBL setting and is increasingly collaborative with other faculty here.

Recent PubMed Publications