Unlocking the secrets of LRRK2 function with selective kinase inhibitors

Micropuncture: unlocking the secrets of renal function.

This essay looks at the historical significance of five APS classic papers that are freely available online: Wearn JT and Richards AN. Observations on the composition of glomerular urine, with particular reference to the problem of reabsorption in the renal tubules. Am J Physiol 71: 209-227, 1924 (http://ajplegacy.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/71/1/209). Richards AN and Walker AM. Methods of colle...

Unlocking the secrets of longevity genes.

Unlocking the secrets of cell signaling.

My scientific life has been spent trying to understand how cells communicate with each other. This interest in cell signaling began with studies on the control of fluid secretion by an insect salivary gland, and the subsequent quest led to the discovery of inositol trisphosphate (IP3) and its role in calcium signaling, which effectively divided my scientific career into two distinct parts. The ...

Unlocking the secrets of cytotoxic granule proteins.

Cytotoxic lymphocytes largely comprise CD8(+) cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells and form the major defense of higher organisms against virus-infected and transformed cells. A key function of cytotoxic lymphocytes is to detect and eliminate potentially harmful cells by inducing them to undergo apoptosis. This is achieved through two principal pathways, both of which require direct but t...

Unlocking the secrets of chitinase secretion

T o secrete proteins into their extra-cellular environment, gram-negative bacteria must transport them across both the inner and outer cell membranes , as well as the intervening peptido-glycan-rich periplasm. To date, researchers have identifi ed six different pathways for protein secretion (1). Some of them take secretory proteins directly from the cyto-plasm to the cell exterior, whereas oth...