Sticking to PIP2

Sticking to PIP2

Tucker, and Edwin Chapman (University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI) find that PIP 2 is a plasma membrane dock for synaptotagmin-1 (syt), a transmembrane protein localized in secretory vesicle membranes, when calcium is absent. This dock may ensure speedy and directed fusion in response to calcium influx. The syt dock has two calcium-binding domains in its cytoplasmic region, called C 2 A and C 2 B...

Sticking with Carrots and Sticks (Sticking Points Aside): A Response to Ventakapuram, Goldberg, and Forrow

PIP2 PIP2 Hooray for Maxi K+

Background: Obesity is often comorbid with depression and individuals with this comorbidity fare worse in behavioral weight loss treatment. Treating depression directly prior to behavioral weight loss treatment might bolster weight loss outcomes in this population, but this has not yet been tested in a randomized clinical trial. Methods and design: This randomized clinical trial will examine wh...

Sticking to the nuclear envelope

mutation in torsinA, an AAA ATPase protein, causes DYT1 dystonia in humans. On page 855, Goodchild and Dauer identify two protein binding partners of torsinA, one that localizes to the ER membrane and one that spans the inner membrane of the nuclear envelope. The team hypothesizes that DYT1 is a nuclear envelope disease , and that identification of such protein complexes will provide a mechanis...

Sticking Points

Nowadays a blood test usually requires a doctor’s visit, a needle poke in the arm, and a day-long wait for results to come back from a lab. So when Silicon Valley start-up Theranos promised a device that could perform more than a hundred of the most commonly ordered blood tests from just a fingerstick, doctors, patients, and investors were quick to get behind the company. Valued at $9 billion i...