title: 2014 Conway review lecture, Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland: “S6, drugs and RCK and Bowl”.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Conway Review Lecture is held annually by the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland Biomedical Sciences Section, to remember the life and scientific work of a world class Irish scientist, Professor Edward J Conway.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This years lecture will focus on large conductance Ca2+ activated K+ (BK) channels and aims to describe how a combination of techniques can be used to unravel drug effects on ion channels at a molecular level.
  
  
  METHODS
  Experiments were performed using a range of techniques including patch clamp electrophysiology, mutagenesis, structural biology and mathematical modeling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our data suggest that the novel BK channel opener GoSlo-SR-5-6 mediates its effects via an interaction with 2 residues on S6 (S317 and I326) and a residue on the S4/S5 linker (L227).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We hypothesize that this novel opener activates BK channels by altering an interaction between the S4/S5 linker and the pore-forming S6 transmembrane helix.
authors.forename: M  A
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hollywood
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D051036:Large-Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D016296:Mutagenesis
chemical_list: D051036:Large-Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels