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EDITORIAL

An introduction to Peter Stanelds festschrift Ian D. Forsythe1 , Blair D. Grubb2 and Nicholas Dale3 1 MRC Toxicology Unit, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK 2 HOD, Cell Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK 3 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry Email: idf@le.ac.uk

This special symposium issue of The Journal of Physiology contains articles based on the seminars delivered by many of the speakers at a one day symposium in honour of Peter R. Staneld, following his recent retirement. In reviewing Peters career, Blair Grubb highlighted the extraordinary contribution that Peter has made to understanding the properties and functions of potassium channels: from his early work on skeletal muscle, to the famous Standen and Staneld collaborations on inward rectication and founding of the Ion Channel Group, including studies of calcium currents and the discovery of KATP channels in 1985. Peter developed his exploration of potassium channels with forays into G-protein coupled inward rectiers, delayed rectiers and most recently the two-pore K+ channels (K2p), including cloning of TASK-5 in 2001. Peter initially trained as a veterinarian at Cambridge University, but before

completing this degree transferred to Natural Sciences. Following his undergraduate studies, he continued with his PhD under the supervision of Alan Hodgkin, investigating the electrical properties of skeletal muscle. At the same time, Bertil Hille was working as a post-doc in Hodgkins lab and they have maintained a lifelong connection. On completion of his PhD, Peter moved to the Marine Biology Association at Plymouth for two years to study the electrical properties of sh skeletal muscle, and then returned to Cambridge as a physiology demonstrator before taking up a lectureship at the University of Leicester in 1974 under the guidance of Ron Whittam, the then head of Physiology. He rapidly moved through the academic ranks at Leicester, progressing to a readership in 1981 and then gaining a personal chair in 1987. He was head of the Department of Physiology at Leicester from 1989 to 1993 before moving to take up the chair in Molecular Physiology at the University of Warwick in 2001. Peter retired in 2009 after 45 years of outstanding service to the physiological sciences. Peter gained many distinctions throughout his career including a DSc from the University of Cambridge in 1986 and Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2003. He also served on many local and national committees. He was a member of the Committee of The Physiological Society for two terms of 19851990 and 19951999, and was

Figure 1. The participants in Peter Stanelds festschrift (University of Warwick, 12 April 2010) From left to right: Ramon Latore, Fran Ashcroft, Ian Forsythe and Peter Staneld.
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Honorary Secretary 19961999. He was a member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Physiology 19811988. The considerable contribution that Peter has made to both The Journal and The Society makes it especially tting that this symposium is published in The Journal of Physiology . The festschrift took place at the University of Warwicks Medical School, with the audience and invited speakers (see Fig. 1) covering the full range of Peters academic colleagues, past collaborators, grown-up post-docs, and faithful friends. The conference was splendidly organised by Nick Dale and colleagues (for details see Dale et al . 2010). There was a note of sadness in recollecting the untimely death of Peters wife, Pippa, and in noting the absence of special colleagues through illness particularly Nick Standen, who is such a close friend and past co-conspirator in the Ion Channel Group at Leicester. The reviews in this issue follow Peters central research themes within potassium channel physiology, coloured by the special interests of the speakers and spanning K+ channel structure and biophysics, lipid/channel interactions, physiological function and the relevance to disease. Ramon Latorres review of the BK potassium channel explores the idea that the different gating functions of these channels (by voltage and intracellular calcium) reside in different parts or modules of the K+ channel and that the physiology reects the allosteric interaction between these parts (Latorre et al . 2010). The gating theme is continued by Alistair Mathie with respect to the regulation of leak K+ channels of the K2p channel family, with reference to the TASK (TWIK-like acid-sensitive K+ channels) family and developing the idea that permeation is regulated by two gates (Mathie et al. 2010). A pharmacological and structural theme is developed in an overview of ether- a-go-go related gene (ERG) K+ channels, bringing together new evidence for activation of these channels by specic drugs and expanding the repertoire for control of these crucial arrhythmia moderators (Perry et al. 2010). Caroline Dart worked closely with Nick Standen and Peter. Her review gives a broad consideration of lipid microdomains and channel interactions within smooth muscle, supporting a thesis for
DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.2010.196006

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3140 dynamic regulation of ion channels within lipid-rafts (Dart, 2010). Bertile Hille then develops this theme with the idea of an instructional role for phosphoinositides on integral membrane proteins, illustrated by the M1 muscarinic receptor modulation of KCNQ/Kv7 channels (Falkenburger et al . 2010). Ian Forsythes interest in voltage-gated K+ channels started with a post-doc in Peters laboratory and has developed toward the understanding of native K+ channels and their physiological role and regulation within identied neurons of the auditory brainstem (Johnston et al . 2010). Finally Fran Ashcroft was Peters rst post-doc and here she treats us to an inspiring account of how her interests in KATP and diabetes have converged and grown toward understanding and treatment for some forms of neonatal diabetes (McTaggart et al . 2010).

Editorial Peter, the speakers and the audience all agreed the symposium was a great success and an enjoyable opportunity to meet old friends, and to listen, inform and exchange new ideas. Most importantly it was a tting celebration of Peter Stanelds work in understanding potassium channels and his inuence in encouraging fresh generations to continue the exploration of these versatile regulators of excitability.
References Dale N, Squires P, Frenguelli B & Mistry R (2010). The Peter Staneld Festschrift. Physiol News 79, 79. Dart C (2010). Lipid microdomains and the regulation of ion channel function. J Physiol 588, 31693178. Falkenburger BH, Jensen JB, Dickson EJ, Suh B-C & Hille B (2010). Phosphoinositides: lipid regulators of membrane proteins. J Physiol 588, 31793185.

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Johnston J, Forsythe ID & Kopp-Scheinpug C (2010). Going native: voltage-gated potassium channels controlling neuronal excitability. J Physiol 588, 31873200. Latorre R, Morera FJ & Zaelzer C (2010). Allosteric interactions and the modular nature of the voltage- and Ca2+ -activated (BK) channels. J Physiol 588, 31413148. Mathie A, Al-Moubarak E & Veale EL (2010). Gating of two pore domain potassium channels. J Physiol 588, 31493156. McTaggart JS, Clark RH & Ashcroft FM (2010). The role of the KATP channel in glucose homeostasis in health and disease: more than meets the islet. J Physiol 588, 32013209. Perry MD, Sanguinetti MC & Mitcheson JS (2010). The structural basis of action for drugs that block or modulate the gating of hERG potassium channels. J Physiol 588, 31573167.

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