Dr. Shifra Lansky

Dr. Lansky earned her PhD in Chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she used X-ray crystallography and other complementary biophysical methods to determine the atomic-resolution structures and mechanisms of proteins. She focused specifically on the proteins composing the hemicellulose utilization systems in thermophilic bacteria, and managed to determine the structural and dynamic factors contributing to their substrate specificities, binding interactions, and catalytic mechanisms.

For her postdoctoral studies, Dr. Lansky will conduct research at Cornell Weill Medical College in New York. She will use the pioneering high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM) technique to directly observe the conformational dynamics and gating mechanisms of transmembrane receptor channels at a single-molecule-scale. She plans to focus specifically on the G-protein gated inward rectifier K+ (GIRK) channels, and their protein-protein interaction dynamics with their G-protein activators. Dr. Lansky hopes that the information that will be obtained from this research will advance the basic scientific knowledge available for GIRK channels, and will also advance our understanding of the mechanisms by which drugs interact with GIRK channels and alter their gating behavior, furthering drug development against the many diseases that involve GIRK channels.