An MBoC Favorite: Creativity and graduate education

An MBoC Favorite: Creativity and graduate education

I dare say that a total of 72 graduate school and medical school classes over the past 31/2 years, since beginning the M.D.-Ph.D., Program has rendered me qualified to comment on upper-level science education. During that time I have been taught by every technique ever invented, and my performance has been evaluated in every way imaginable. The good news is that, for the most part, my teachers ...

An MBoC Favorite: Myosin-1a is critical for normal brush border structure and composition

To develop our understanding of myosin-1a function in vivo, we have created a mouse line null for the myosin-1a gene. Myosin-1a knockout mice demonstrate no overt phenotypes at the whole animal level but exhibit significant perturbations and signs of stress at the cellular level. Among these are defects in microvillar membrane morphology, distinct changes in brush-border organization, loss of n...

An MBoC Favorite: Functional interactions between sphingolipids and sterols in biological membranes regulating cell physiology

Sterols and sphingolipids are limited to eukaryotic cells, and their interaction has been proposed to favor formation of lipid microdomains. Although there is abundant biophysical evidence demonstrating their interaction in simple systems, convincing evidence is lacking to show that they function together in cells. Using lipid analysis by mass spectrometry and a genetic approach on mutants in s...

An MBoC Favorite: The historic covers selected by Joseph Gall that graced MBoC from 1992 to 1996

An MBoC Favorite: ARF is required for maintenance of yeast Golgi and endosome structure and function

ADP ribosylation factor (ARF) is thought to play a critical role in recruiting coatomer (COPI) to Golgi membranes to drive transport vesicle budding. Yeast strains harboring mutant COPI proteins exhibit defects in retrograde Golgi to endoplasmic reticulum protein transport and striking cargo-selective defects in anterograde endoplasmic reticulum to Golgi protein transport. To determine whether ...