“Just like the transistor is the basis of computers, the ion channel is the basic element in many processes in biology,” explains Peter Burke, who heads the nanotechnology group at the University of California at Irvine. He lists some of the aspects of the body they affect, which include neurons (and hence human thought) but also a variety of other processes, such as synthesis of the energy-storage molecule ATP in mitochondria. In fact, ion channels are crucial……Read more.