Editor Profiles

Dario Alessi (MRC, Dundee)

d.r.alessi@dundee.ac.uk

Dario Alessi discovered PDK1, a master regulator of insulin-controlled responses and a key anti-cancer agent. His group has also identified a key activatory link between LKB1 and AMPK that impacts on LKB1's activity as tumour-suppressor and as activator for a number of other genes, some of which have been associated with Alzheimer's disease. Read Dario's editorial

Giulio Cossu (H.S. Raffaele, Milan)

cossu.giulio@hrs.it

Giulio Cossu's interests are in the pathophysiology of muscle development. His group has been working for a number of years on the signals and mechanism that regulate the formation of skeletal muscle during embryonic development and, after birth, when the muscle tissue is damaged as a result of an injury or a primary myopathy. Read Giulio's editorial

Uta Francke (Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford)

ufrancke@stanford.edu

Uta Francke's research interests are to understand the functional consequences of microdeletions that cause defined clinical syndromes. Her laboratory has created mouse models for Williams-Beuren syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). The PWS mice are deleted for an imprinted cluster of C/D box small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) genes. Current goals are to identify the function of these snoRNAs and to understand how their loss causes the PWS phenotype. Read Uta's editorial

Fred Gage (Salk Institute, San Diego)

gage@salk.edu

Fred Gage concentrates on the adult central nervous system and the plasticity and adaptability to environmental stimulation that remains throughout the life of all mammals. His work may open up the possibility for replacement of brain tissue lost to stroke or Alzheimer's disease and repairing spinal cords damaged by trauma. Read Fred's editorial.

Matthias Hentze (EMBL, Heidelberg)

hentze@embl.de

Matthias Hentze's main research interests are the regulation of translation by RNA-binding proteins and microRNAs and the impact that errors in RNA processing and translation have on the ontogeny, progression, diagnosis and therapeutics of human disease. Matthias Hentze is a strong proponent of the concept of "from bench to bedside - and back". Read Matthias' editorial

Edison T. Liu (Genome Institute, Singapore)

gisliue@nus.edu.sg

At the Genome Institute of Singapore, Edison T. Liu's team focuses on integrating genomic sciences with cell and medical biology by spanning molecular epidemiology to molecular biochemistry of human oncogenes. Special interest is hereby given to the dynamics of whole genome gene transcription that explains biological states in cancer.

Philippe Sansonetti (Institute Pasteur, Paris)

psanson@pasteur.fr

Philippe Sansonetti's research focusses on dysentery-causing Shigella and on the molecular and cellular basis of Shigella's ability to rupture, invade and cause inflammatory destruction of the intestinal lining. He also is analysing the mechanisms of immunity against Shigella, hoping to use his findings to develop vaccine. Read Philippe's editorial

Bart de Strooper (KU Leuven - Dept of Mol. & Dev. Genetics, Leuven)

Bart.Destrooper@med.kuleuven.be

Bart de Strooper's research interests are the cell biology of Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease. He demonstrated the central role of Presenilin in γ-Secretase processing of Amyloid Precursor Protein and Notch. He received several international prices including the Potamkin Prize in 2002, the Alois Alzheimer Award in 2004 and the Metlife Award in 2008.