On November 29, 2021, the fourth academic report of the Online Seminar Series was successfully held. The Online Seminar Series are initiated by the Seminar Committee of Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and sponsored by Neuroscience Bulletin. It aims to set up a platform to introduce the currently important research and to directly communicate with those internationally renowned scientists. 

　　This fourth Online Seminar was a symposium to report researches on Ion Channels for the Sensation of Touch, Temperature and Hearing. Three speakers, Dr. Bailong Xiao from Tsinghua University, Dr.Fan Yang from Zhejiang University, and Dr. Jingpeng Ge from ShanghaiTech University, were invited. They were hosted by the principal investigator at CEBSIT, Dr. Shujia Zhu. About 30 researchers from the Center participated, and about 140 people from home and abroad attended the seminar online. 

　　Dr. Bailong Xiao did his postdoctoral training with Dr. Ardem Patapoutian, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner this year, at the Scripps Research Institute in the United States from 2007 to 2012. In 2013, he set up his own lab in Tsinghua University with the aim to understand how Piezo channels effectively convert mechanical force into electro-chemical signals and precisely control various mechanotransduction processes at both cellular and animal levels. The report of Dr. Xiao was " Feeling Force with the Mechanosensitive PIEZO Channels ", which thoroughly reviewed their vital structural features and innovative pharmacological profiling approaches within a relatively short time after Piezo channels being discovered.  

　　Dr. Fan Yang works for understanding the function and dynamic conformational changes of ion channels, and rational designing biological macromolecules based on the three-dimensional structure of proteins. His report was “Sensing the Coolness: Cold and Menthol Activation of TRPM8 Ion Channel”, which introduced the dynamic gating mechanism of TRPM8 channel activated by physical and chemical factors such as low temperature and menthol, and the small regulatory molecules with analgesic effect against TRPM8 channel. 

　　Dr. Jingpeng Ge focuses on exploring the molecular basis for hearing. The report by Professor Ge was “Structural Insights into the Molecular Mechanism underlying Hearing”, which explained how prestin, the electromotive molecule of outer hair cells that senses both voltage and membrane tension, mediates signal amplification with the structural conception and related computational analyses. 

　　This Online Seminar attracted lots of young researchers in the field and deepened the mutual understanding of various research divisions.