Sandy, you could do:
a = {'ch1_01' 'ch1_02' 'ch2_01' 'ch2_02' 'ch3_01'};
b = [12.2172 83.1253 32.3429 73.2126 43.3222;...
32.2179 13.1213 42.3388 53.5127 52.1229;...
82.2571 43.1231 52.1400 33.4129 44.3326];
c.col = a;
c.val = b;
To access the different components use, e.g.,
c.col(2)
c.val(1:2,2:3)
