For episode 52 of 17 Minutes of Science we sat down with Dr. Valeria Vásquez from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center to talk about mechanosensitive channels - what are they, why are they important, and how is the Vasquez Lab utilizing C. elegans in their research.

The Vásquez lab aims to understand the functional, structural, and molecular mechanism by which mechanosensitive channels respond to mechanical stimuli and help delineate a general framework for their roles in health and disease. The lab follows two main avenues: 1) in vitro biochemical and biophysical approaches to study protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions of bona fide mechanosensitive channel complexes, and 2) in vivo approaches to characterize mechanosensitive channels in C. elegans having novel physiological roles.