Dr. Hanck’s laboratory provides an integrated environment for electrophysiological, molecular biological, and modeling of basic biophysics, physiology, and molecular pharmacology of ion channels important in controlling cell excitability in health and disease. The laboratory uses a full range of electrophysiological techniques, including (a) whole cell voltage clamp, (b) single channel recording, and (c) gating current recording, as well as molecular biological techniques to investigate the structural basis of channel behavior. A wide variety of computer based modeling tools are used, including for molecular modeling and kinetics, for quantitative analyses and testing of theory with experimental data. The primary research focus is on cationic channels in excitable cells, including sodium channels and low voltage activated calcium channels (T-type calcium channels), which critical for controlling pacemaking in the heart and burst firing in a variety of neurons and other excitable cells.