In neurons, sites of Ca2+ influx and Ca2+ sensors are located within 20-50 nm, in subcellular “Ca2+ nanodomains”. Such tight coupling is crucial for the functional properties of synapses and neuronal excitability. Two key players act together in nanodomains, coupling Ca2+ signal to membrane potential: the voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels (VDCC) and the large conductance Ca2+ and voltage-gated K+ channels (BK). BK channels are characterized by synergistic activation by Ca2+ and membrane depolarization, but the complex molecular mechanism underlying channel function is not adequately understood. Information about the pore region, voltage sensing domain or isolated intracellular domains has been obtained separately using electrophysiology, biochemistry and crystallography. Nevertheless, the specialized behavior of this channel must be studied in the whole protein complex at the membrane in order to determine the complete range of structures and movements critical to its in vivo function. Using a combination of genetics, electrophysiology and spectroscopy, our group has measured for the first time the structural rearrangements accompanying whole BK channel activation at the membrane. From this unique position, our first goal is to fully determine the real time structural dynamics underlying the molecular coupling of Ca2+, voltage and activation of BK channels in the membrane environment, its regulation by accessory subunits and channel effectors. BK subcellular localization and role in Ca2+ nanodomains make these channels perfect candidates as reporters of local changes in [Ca2+] restricted to specific nanodomains close to the neuronal membrane. In our laboratory we have created fluorescent variants of the channel that report BK activity induced by Ca2+ binding, or Ca2+ binding and voltage. Our second aim in this proposal is to optimize and deploy this novel optoelectrical reporters to study physiologically relevant Ca2+-induced processes both in cellular and animal mode

The University of La Laguna (hereinafter ULL) works on projects to promote Internationalization and obviously continues to bet on collaboration with the countries of its Great Neighborhood such as Mauritania, Senegal and Tunisia, not only because of the cultural and educational richness resulting from inter-university cooperation but also because they are areas contemplated by the Government of the Canary Islands in its strategic development plans. In this sense, there are important precedents such as the exchange of students, professors and researchers, as well as the signing of research projects, such as the PCT-MAC. The ULL, in the context of its Campus of International Excellence, finances the temporary incorporation of internationally renowned professors and researchers from universities, research centers and research organizations located outside the national territory, preferably in Africa and America. This commitment clearly reflects part of the internationalization strategy of the ULL, which is working, above all, to strengthen research networks with Africa and Latin America (Campus Africa and Campus America, which due to COVID19 pandemic effects have been delayed in the 20-21 academic year).These mobility mobilities (both for students and faculty) work to improve the skills and knowledge of the participants, with a transversal international training that leads to the internationalization of their curricula and the improvement of the international relations of the academic community. This generates networks that have a positive impact on the research and teaching of the participating partner institutions: the University of Gaston Berger (Saint-Louis in Senegal), the University of Carthage in Tunisia and the University of La Laguna. The mobilities carried out with the project consisted of outgoing teaching mobilities, one to Gaston-Berger and the other to Carthage. As for the incoming teaching mobilities, two were carried out from the University of Gaston Berger to ULL. As a novelty in this 2018 project, and for the first time, two incoming student mobilities were carried out from Gaston Berger University to ULL.The activities carried out with the implementation of the project have allowed participants to incorporate international experience in their CVs, learning teaching methodology in other institutions and establishing contacts at the research and teaching level in areas related to the SDGs such as agricultural engineering, gender empowerment, tropical diseases, applied Foreign Languages, Social Sciences, Communication Sciences, Philology and Education Sciences.Finally, the ULL continued to participate in the Network of Universities of Northwest Africa and Macaronesia (UNWAM), of which the ULL is a member together with the University of Gaston Berger (Saint Louis, Senegal). This network aims to intensify the internationalization of the territorial area in which the universities are inserted and serves as an instrument to claim their role in the history, evolution, academic and economic development and, ultimately, in the present and future of Africa and Europe.

Some of the objectives of the internationalization strategy of the University of La Laguna (being the Canary Islands an outermost region (RUP) of the EU) are to encourage and strengthen relations with neighboring African countries, the transfer of knowledge, promotion of interculturality and the consolidation of historical, cultural and economic ties. With some of them, in particular, with Morocco, Cape Verde and Senegal, there are important precedents such as the exchange of students, professors and researchers, as well as the signing of joint research projects, such as the PCT-MAC.It is also important to highlight that the ULL is part of the Campus of International Excellence CEI-CANARIAS Tricontinental Atlantic Campus (2010-2015), in which a geostrategic-tricontinental commitment was made to become the Atlantic reference center as a catalyst for talent and projects teachers, research, innovation and transfer for the Europe-Africa-Latin America axis. This is a bet that clearly reflects a part of the ULL's internationalization strategy and that is focused, above all, on strengthening ties with both Latin America and Africa.The objective of the project is to promote, through the mobility of both students and faculty, the skills and knowledge of the participants by offering cross-cutting international training, the internationalization of their curricula, and improving the international relations of the academic community, generating networks of work that have a positive impact on the research and teaching of the participating institutions. The foreign institutions that have participated in the project have been the University of Cape Verde (Cape Verde) and the University of Gaston Berger (Senegal). The mobilities carried out with the project consisted of staff teaching mobility, three outgoing and four incoming. Of the outgoing mobilities, two went to Cape Verde and one to Senegal, while the incoming came from Cape Verde and two from Senegal.The execution of the project has allowed participants to incorporate international experience in their CVs, learning the teaching methodologies in other institutions, and, in some cases, establishing contacts at the research level in areas such as hydrology, in the case of Cape Verde, and francophony, in the case of Senegal. In this line, and in a more global and institutional way, the Network of Northwestern African Universities and Macaronesia (UNWAM), of which we are members together with the University of Cape Verde and the Gaston Berger University, has been constituted very recently. The main objective of this network is to intensify the internationalization of the territorial area in which it is inserted and to serve as an instrument to claim its leading role in history, evolution, academic and economic development and, ultimately, in the present and in the future of Africa and Europe.

This is a higher education student and staff mobility project, please consult the website of the organisation to obtain additional details.