The structural basis for glutamate transporter function

谷氨酸转运蛋白是大脑中的真空吸尘器，将神经递质谷氨酸吸入细胞。当谷氨酸真空被打破或被阻塞时，细胞外的谷氨酸水平增加，导致大脑中的细胞死亡。这一过程是许多脑部疾病（包括阿尔茨海默病和中风）损害的基础。这个项目的目的是了解谷氨酸真空吸尘器的机制，这样我们就可以开发出治疗方法来修复它。

Glutamate transporters are vacuum cleaners in the brain that suck the neurotransmitter glutamate into cells. When the glutamate vacuum breaks down or becomes blocked, glutamate levels outside cells increase, leading to cell death in the brain. This process underlies the damage in many brain diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. The aim of this project is to understand the mechanism of the glutamate vacuum cleaner so we can develop therapeutics to fix it when it breaks down.