Protozoan paradigms for cell biology

1999 ◽  
Vol 112 (17) ◽  
pp. 2797-2798 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Vickerman ◽  
G.H. Coombs

This article introduces a miniseries of three commentaries on parasite cell biology. The reviews were written as a tribute to Keith Vickerman FRS on his retirement as Regius Professor of Zoology at the University of Glasgow and are based on presentations given at a symposium held to honour his pioneering work in the field. On page 2799 of this issue, Michael Ferguson reviews the structure and function of GPI anchors, and the contributions that studies of trypanosomes have made. In subsequent issues, James Alexander, Abhay Satoskar and David Russell discuss Leishmania species as models of intracellular parasitism, and Michael Turner presents a holistic view of antigenic variation in Trypanosoma brucei infections.

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (9) ◽  
pp. 652-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Hoogendoorn

Since the beginning of 2019, the Hoogendoorn lab is active at the University of Geneva. We are a Chemical Biology lab and our research focuses on the Hedgehog (Hh) signalling pathway and the primary cilium, a small cellular organelle which corrects structure and function, is required to conduct the Hh signal. Ciliary Hh signalling plays an important role in embryonic development, and its dysregulation consequently results in developmental disorders as well as a variety of cancers. We use an interdisciplinary approach, ranging from organic chemistry to cell biology and genetics, to develop chemical tools to study and perturb ciliary signalling. In this account, I will highlight existing small molecules that target the Hh pathway, our efforts to discover new compounds, and the methodologies that we employ for target deconvolution and mechanism of action studies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-123
Author(s):  
Dugald Gardner

William Rutherford Sanders spent a childhood and early student days divided between Edinburgh and Montpelier, France before graduating in Medicine in Edinburgh. An early interest in the spleen was encouraged by a two-year period in Europe where he became familiar with the work of Helmholtz, Bernard and Henle. Returning to Edinburgh, his growing experience led to the position of assistant in the Infirmary pathology department. He conducted classes in the University of Edinburgh and on behalf of the Royal Colleges became familiar with the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons where he was chosen as Conservator in 1853. Criticised by 20th century historians for concentrating on verbal teaching rather than on the conservation of the museum, Sanders became a consultant physician to the Royal Infirmary in 1861 and in 1869 Professor of General Pathology. Throughout these years, Sanders gave as much time as possible to the study of the structure and function of the spleen and to neurological disorders such as hemiplegia. His later life was interrupted by a series of illnesses commencing with an abdominal abscess. A prolonged convalescence allowed the resumption of work but deranged vision and hemiplegia preceded his death on 18 February 1881.


2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (18) ◽  
pp. 2807-2810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre A. Coulombe

In 1991, a set of transgenic mouse studies took the fields of cell biology and dermatology by storm in providing the first credible evidence that keratin intermediate filaments play a unique and essential role in the structural and mechanical support in keratinocytes of the epidermis. Moreover, these studies intimated that mutations altering the primary structure and function of keratin filaments underlie genetic diseases typified by cellular fragility. This Retrospective on how these studies came to be is offered as a means to highlight the 25th anniversary of these discoveries.


Parasitology ◽  
1935 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Mellanby

Cunliffe (1921) has shown that the various stages of Ornithodoros moubata may be distinguished by slight differences in the shape of the spiracles. Nuttall, Cooper and Robinson (1908) have described in detail the structure of the spiracles of another tick, Haemaphysalis punctata. Otherwise the spiracles of ticks have received little attention except from systematists, and though Nuttall and his collaborators described a closing mechanism in Haemaphysalis, no study of its function was made. In this paper I propose to describe the structure of the spiracle of Ornithodoros moubata, and show how its function may be investigated by experiments.


Mr . President and Gentlemen, My most pleasant duty to-day is to thank your Council for the honour that it has conferred upon me by inviting me to give the second lecture in memory of the late Sir David Ferrier. I have accepted this invitation with feelings of gratitude, not only to your Council, but also for the contributions made in this country to our knowledge of the structure and function of the nervous system. Among these, the works of Sir David Ferrier, however prominent, only stand out as a conspicuous example of a national tradition, maintained in recent years, both in the Physiology and Anatomy of the brain. The task I have accepted is not an easy one, the less so as the first Ferrier lecture was given by Sir Charles Sherrington who, in both the methods and results of his investigations, attained a degree of exactness at which morphologists aim in vain.


1984 ◽  
Vol 246 (2) ◽  
pp. R133-R151 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Clegg

The nucleoplasm, the interiors of cytoplasmic membrane-bound organelles, and the aqueous cytoplasm make up the aqueous compartments of animal cells. The extent to which these compartments are concentrated solutions of macromolecules, metabolites, ions, and other solutes is a matter of some importance to current thinking about cell structure and function. This paper will focus on the aqueous cytoplasm. It will show that the composition and metabolic activities of the cytosol, obtained by methods of cell disruption and fractionation, bear almost no resemblance to those of the aqueous cytoplasm in intact cells. The consequences of this to contemporary views on cell structure and function are considered. A closely related topic concerns the physical properties of the dominant component of these compartments, water: Are these properties the same as those of water in aqueous solutions, or are they altered as a result of interaction with cell architecture? Available evidence strongly suggests that at least a large fraction of the total cell water exhibits properties that markedly differ from those of pure water. Selected examples of these studies will be reviewed, and the roles of cell water will be discussed, notably as they relate to metabolism and cell ultrastructure. Although dimly perceived at present, it appears that living cells exhibit an organization far greater than the current teachings of cell biology reveal.


1984 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 167s-171s ◽  
Author(s):  
J S Clegg

The extent to which the properties of water in cells are like those of water in dilute aqueous solutions is a question of broad significance to cell biology. A detailed answer is not available at present, although evidence is accumulating that the properties of at least a large fraction of intracellular water are altered by interactions with cell ultrastructure, notably the cytomatrix. That and related evidence also suggests that the properties, composition, and activities of the "aqueous cytoplasm" of intact cells bear little resemblance to those of the "cytosol" obtained by cell fractionation. This paper will consider some of the evidence for these possibilities and some of their potential consequences with regard to cellular structure and function.


1937 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Fretter

The work described in this paper was carried out in the Department of Zoology of Birkbeck College, University of London, and at the Marine Laboratories at Plymouth and Port Erin. I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the University of London for the use of their table at Plymouth, to Birkbeck College for a grant of £5 towards the illustrations, and, in particular, I would express my gratitude to Mr Graham, under whose direction the work was carried out, for his continued kindness and help.The specimens of Lepidochitona cinereus which were used for the investigation were collected at Bangor, Plymouth and Port Erin, and also obtained from Cullercoats. Most of the material from Plymouth and one specimen from Cullercoats was infected with the Haplosporidian parasite Haplosporidium chitonis (Debaisieux, 1920) and was therefore unreliable for histological and physiological work. Specimens of Acanthochitona crinitus were collected at Plymouth, and showed no sign of infection with Haplosporidium chitonis; a few, however, were slightly parasitised with another Sporozoan. The Californian species Ischnochiton magdalenensis and Cryptochiton stelleri were obtained from Turtox General Biological Supply House, Chicago. Specimens of these species were fixed in formalin, which proved to be a poor fixative for histological work.


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