We are pleased to announce the appointment of John Heath as an Editor of Journal of Cell Science. John has a background in developmental biology and has for many years been a leading figure in the field of growth factor and cytokine signalling. Our desire to appoint a new Editor is in part due to the continuing increase in the number of submissions? a consequence of our rising impact factor and author-friendly policies? and in part to our need for another expert in the field of signal transduction among the Editors. On behalf of all the Editors, we would like to welcome John to JCS; we look forward to working with him. The appointment of John Heath coincides with the start of a series of Commentaries focusing on Signal Transduction and Cellular Organization, which will be a feature of JCS throughout 2001. This series is intended to reflect our increasing understanding of the organization of signalling networks, which are no longer viewed merely as linear pathways but instead as complex webs in which scaffold-organized multiprotein complexes and subcellular localization of signalling molecules play key roles. Morgan Sheng's summary of the scaffold functions of PSD-95 in the post-synaptic density (see Cell Science at a Glance) underlines this complexity: PSD-95 is part of an extensive network of proteins that links together different classes of glutamate receptor and couples them to intracellular signalling pathways. In the first Commentary of this series (p. 1253), Bruce Mayer examines the roles of SH3 domains in signalling and discusses the overall logic governing signalling networks. On p. 1265, Graeme Milligan develops the theme by reviewing the evidence for regulation of G-protein-coupled receptor signalling through receptor oligomerization. Future articles in the series examine the importance of subcellular localization of signalling molecules such as Ca(2+), inositol phosphates and Ras, scaffold proteins such as STE5, KSR and AKAPs, and proteins such as p300/CBP and WASP that play central roles integrating signalling to produce biological output (see over). Finally, we would like to emphasize our interest in primary articles relating to this topic and take this opportunity to encourage all those working in the field of signal transduction to submit their best articles to the journal.?
BML-190 and AM251 act as inverse agonists at the human cannabinoid CB2
receptor: signalling via cAMP and inositol phosphates
