"Heartbeats, Brainwaves, and the Tiny Switches Behind Them"
Speaker: Henry Colecraft, PhD
John C. Dalton Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics
Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Interim Chair, Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Columbia University, Irving Medical Center
Date: Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, 12 p.m. - 1 p.m.
Location: Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health Building, Atkins Family Seminar Room
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Description
At first glance, conditions like epilepsy, cystic fibrosis and cardiac arrhythmias appear to have little in common. One disrupts the brain’s electrical activity, another cripples the lungs with thick mucus, and the third sends the heart into a lethal, irregular rhythm. Yet they share a single biological cause: channelopathies. They’re diseases caused by the failure of cellular structures known as ion channels, which are tiny doorways on our bodies’ cell membranes.
“The ions that are needed by the cell can’t get through that membrane,” explains Henry Colecraft, professor of molecular pharmacology and therapeutics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. “They need a water-filled pathway to get across, and ion channels provide that.”
These channels facilitate communication throughout the body, controlling the flow of charged atoms, or ions, in and out of cells. This movement of ions generates the electrical signals that enable every heartbeat, neural firing, and muscle contraction. When these gates malfunction, communication within the body breaks down—with devastating consequences.
Dr. Colecraft has dedicated his career to investigating how these molecular machines fail and engineering approaches to rescue them, with the goal of providing new therapeutic options for a broad range of diseases.
“I think science is really an exciting area,” he says. “You want to be bold. You must ask the questions that really move things and not just follow what other people have done. For scientists, being creative and original is the best thing, and sometimes the hardest thing.”
About the Speaker
Henry M. Colecraft, PhD obtained his BSc in Physiology from University of London King’s College, and his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Rochester. He completed his postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University, where he remained as an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering till he was recruited to Columbia University as an Associate Professor in 2007.
Dr. Colecraft is an international leader in the molecular physiology of ion channel proteins that underlie signaling in nerve cells and the heart. He has directed the Ion Channel Physiology & Disease Lab since 2001. His research group has contributed seminal advances to understanding molecular mechanisms underlying regulation of voltage-dependent Ca2+ and K+ channels by accessory subunits, posttranslational modifications, and signaling molecules. His group also studies how inherited mutations in ion channels lead to devastating diseases (known as ion channelopathies) that span the cardiovascular, neurological, and respiratory systems, and in devising new therapies for them.
About the Discovery Series
The NextGen Precision Health Discovery Series provides learning opportunities for UM System faculty and staff across disciplines, the statewide community and our other partners to learn about the scope of precision health research and identify potential collaborative opportunities. The series consists of monthly lectures geared toward a broad multidisciplinary audience so all can participate and appreciate the spectrum of precision health efforts.
For questions about this event or any others in the Discovery Series, please reach out to Mackenzie Lynch.
Reviewed 2025-09-23