American Society for Cell Biology Meeting

Denver, CO: December 3^rd (Saturday) – December 7^th (Wednesday)

REFERENCE:  Science (2011) 334 pgs 1046 - 1051

                This Saturday marks the beginning of the annual ASCB meeting in Denver, CO.  The event will feature over 3000 scientific poster presentations as well as 100 scientific sessions.  Principal Investigators, post doctoral associates and graduate students from all over the world will descend on Denver to discuss science (and ski) starting this weekend.

                As a preview to this event, Science magazine published a five article series discussing some of the most pressing questions currently facing cell biologists.  They include…

Do lipid rafts exist?  This is a contentious topic, but important to understand.  The plasma membrane is the first line of defense for a cell and acts as a gate keeper to all the comings and goings.  Understanding how it works is essential.

How does a cell know its size?  Many different kinds of cells exist but all of them stay within a certain size.  Certain proteins have been identified in yeast and bacteria that are involved in cells “sensing” their size but more work needs to be done.

How does a cell position its proteins?  Some cells make upwards of 10,000 proteins.  Positioning all of them so that they are in the proper places to perform their functions efficiently is a monumental task.  Proteins carry targeting sequences that place them in different organelles, but new research suggests that mRNAs may also be playing a role.

How do hungry cells start eating themselves? Autophagy is becoming a hot topic!

Does a gene’s location in the nucleus matter? Nuclear organization is important to cell function.  In fact, in cancer and other diseases, the nucleus is reorganized.  Researchers are trying to understand why the cell likes its proteins and RNA in certain places relative to its chromosomes.

I highly recommend reading them.  The articles are short and already written in a summary format.  I don’t want to write a redux of a redux on this blog because that is ridiculous.  Instead, I implore you to pick up a November 25^th copy of Science magazine and read pages 1046 – 1051!