A. D. Ozkan

PIEZO1 discriminates mechanical stimuli

The paper investigates how PIEZO1 channels respond to different mechanical stimuli by analyzing conformational changes in their blade domains and finds that flow stimuli trigger distinct responses compared to other mechanical inputs.

Mechanical and chemical activation of GPR68 (OGR1) probed with a genetically-encoded fluorescent reporter

The paper develops a fluorescent reporter, iGlow, to study GPR68 activation by mechanical and chemical stimuli, showing it responds to fluid shear stress, pH changes, and ogerin, and functions independently of Helix 8.

An inter-channel cooperative mechanism mediates PIEZO1's exquisite mechanosensitivity

This study shows that PIEZO1 channels exhibit cooperative behavior under mechanical stress, enhancing their sensitivity to small tension changes through inter-channel interactions.