The MKM laboratory has studied transmembrane proteins for over 25 years. We have chosen systems that were both challenging in themselves and parts of larger pictures that were exciting. We have worked on the voltage-gated K⁺ channel, which soon became the best-studied membrane protein of its time. Our model of the mechanism coupling changes in transmembrane potential to the opening or closing of the channel is, arguably, the one that best explains the available data. We have spent some time understanding transporters involved in cell death and shown Voltage Dependent Anion Channel (VDAC) to be a key player in mitochondrial pathways leading to cell death and that trafficking and localisation of VDAC modulates cell death. On a completely different front we have demonstrated mechanisms involved in conferring salt tolerance to crop plants where, we have discovered at least three previously unreported mechanisms that contribute to salt tolerance in crop plants. More recently, we have studied K⁺ channels of the heart and found that the electrical systems in the heart are sensitive to mechanical forces.

​Highlighted publications (in reverse chronological order)