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   Featured Publications

While you wolf down that supersized burger, receptors on your cells are busy clearing the remnant lipoproteins that build up in your blood. These cholesterol-rich particles are extremely atherogenic, so unraveling the mechanisms behind remnant lipoprotein clearance will impact our understanding of diseases caused by high cholesterol and lipids. BMS student Jennifer MacArthur in the Esko lab has found that heparan sulfate proteoglycans are critically important in the clearance of remnant lipoproteins.

Read the paper at the Journal of Clinical Investigation

Healthy livers have the amazing ability of regeneration. Understanding the molecular details of liver regeneration may lead to new treatments for liver disease and will likely serve as an important reference system as we move into an era of stem cells and regenerative medicine. In the Akassoglou lab, BMS student Melissa Passino has recently published that proliferation of liver cells is controlled by the neurotrophin receptor p75NTR, a receptor primarily known for its role in the regulation of survival and regeneration of neurons.

Read the paper in Science

How does a dividing cell know that its DNA is properly attached to the spindle before beginning mitosis? BMS student Sharsti Sandall in the Desai lab has identified a tension-sensitive protein complex that may finally answer this age-old question. This complex senses incorrect DNA-spindle attachments and relays the information to protein kinases.

Read the paper at Cell