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Nature 418, 268-269 (18 July 2002) | doi:10.1038/418268a
Ion channel structures: They said it couldn't be done...
Alison Abbott1
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Abstract
Determining the structure of cell-membrane ion channels was thought to be mission impossible. Alison Abbott meets the researcher who proved the doubters wrong, opening new windows on cellular function.
Rod MacKinnon woke up on 1 January 1998 with a sickening feeling that his eureka moment had been a dream. Late into the night, at Cornell University's synchrotron light source in Ithaca, New York, he had been processing data on the structure of a crystallized potassium-ion channel from a cell membrane.
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