Maorong Chen

Maorong received his PhD from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2010 and studied the trafficking and gating mechanism of large conductance and calcium-activated potassium (BK) channels. He joined the lab in September 2010 and is using a cDNA library overexpression screen to look for new modulators and inhibitors of the Wnt pathway.

Selected Publications

1. Gan G, Yi H, Chen M, Sun L, Li W, Wu Y, Ding J. Structural basis for toxin resistance of beta4-associated calcium-activated potassium (BK) channels. J Biol Chem. 2008 Aug 29;283(35):24177-84.
2. Chen M, Gan G, Wu Y, Wang L, Wu Y, Ding J. Lysine-rich extracellular rings formed by hbeta2 subunits confer the outward rectification of BK channels. PLoS One. 2008 May 7;3(5):e2114.
3. Lv C, Chen M* Gan G, Wang L, Xu T, Ding J. Four-turn alpha-helical segment prevents surface expression of the auxiliary hbeta2 subunit of BK-type channel. J Biol Chem. 2008 Feb 1;283(5):2709-15.
4. Hu ZT, Chen MR* Ping Z, Dong YM, Zhang RY, Xu T, Wu ZX. Synaptotagmin IV regulates dense core vesicle (DCV) release in LbetaT2 cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2008 Jul 11;371(4):781-6.
5. Mao-Rong Chen, Song Yang, Wei-Ping Niu, Zhao-Yu Li, Ling-Feng Meng, Zheng-Xing Wu. A novel fluorescent timer based on bicistronic expression strategy in Caenorhabditis elegans. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010 Apr 23;395(1):82-6. Epub 2010 Mar 27
6. Lin XG, Ming M, Chen MR*, Niu WP, Zhang YD, Liu B, Jiu YM, Yu JW, Xu T, Wu ZX. UNC-31/CAPS docks and primes dense core vesicles in C. elegans neurons. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010 Jul 2;397(3):526-31. Epub 2010 May 31.