Aquaporin, are integral membrane proteins from a larger family of major intrinsic proteins (MIP) that form pores in the membrane of biological cells.
Genetic defects involving aquaporin genes have been associated with several human diseases. The 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Peter Agre for the discovery of aquaporins and jointly to Roderick MacKinnon for his work on the structure and mechanism of potassium channels.