Research on ion channels has exploded in the last few decades and it is now clear that ion channels play essential roles in cell biology and physiology, with their dysfunction being the root cause of many human diseases. Understanding human biology in the post-genome sequencing era requires that the function of the protein products encoded by these recently sequenced genes be quantified. Using contemporary tools and new experimental approaches, scientists interested in ion channels are in the unique position of being able to directly, and often in real-time, measure ion channel activity, subunit stoichiometry, structure– function relationships, as well as many other biophysical/biochemical parameters regarding a channel of interest
