PINK1 and PARKIN – two proteins mutated in early onset Parkinson’s Disease - are known to function in a signaling cascade that leads to ubiquitylation of mitochondrial outer membrane proteins on damaged mitochondria, but the precise mechanism through by which PINK1 activates PARKIN ubiquitin ligase activity and retention on the mitochondrial membrane is poorly understood.
The Bjorkman-Strominger-Wiley Prize was established this year by Harvard University's Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology to encourage inter-lab cooperation, in honor of Pamela Bjorkman and Jack Strominger and the late Don Wiley.
Phosphorylation of proteins on tyrosine is particularly important in the control of cell proliferation and differentiation, and drives many of the changes seen in cancer cells.
A systematic quantitative analysis of temporal changes in host and viral proteins throughout the course of a productive infection could provide dynamic insights into virus-host interaction.
In a recent article in Nature, the Pellman Lab reports that increased numbers of centrosomes can mimic and enhance the effects of a breast cancer oncogene.
Autophagy, the process by which proteins and organelles are sequestered in double-membrane structures called autophagosomes and delivered to lysosomes for degradation, is critical in diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration, but our understanding of how cargo is selected and targeted to autophagosomes is incomplete.
