Early Cellular Movements
Q&A with Jeremy Nance, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell Biology
Program for Developmental Genetics, Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine of the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine
In a paper recently published in Science, Dr. Nance and his colleagues describe how a genetic signal helps early embryonic cells move to an appropriate position in the embryo. They focused on a protein called PAR-6, which uses its location to tell cells which side is in and which is out. The question is: What tells PAR-6 which side it's on? ... (read more)
A Notorious Bacterium
Q&A with Richard P. Novick, M.D.
Professor of Microbiology and Medicine
Molecular Pathogenesis Program, Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine of the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine
Dr. Richard P. Novick began studying Staphylococcus aureus long before drug-resistant strains became the hospital scourge they are today. While others are working on the problem of resistance, Dr. Novick's lab is investigating how the bacterium controls expression of its genes for virulence (ability to cause infection). This work may eventually lead to a way of breaking the circuit—in effect, disarming S. aureus until the host immune system can knock it out. ... (read more)
