Publication Research
Dr Pulak Kar, Professor Anant Parekh and colleagues are a step closer to understanding how specificity is achieved in the immune system.
Of the thousands of chemical signals that land on a cell's surface each day, only a handful of intracellular messengers are used to produce a physiological effect. Amongst the small number of signals employed, intracellular calcium is the most widespread, activating a range of important responses including neurotransmission, beating of the heart, energy production and cell growth. However, with the same message capable of activating so many different processes comes the question of specificity: how does a cell know what to do when the intracellular calcium levels rise? Dr Pulak Kar, Professor Anant Parekh and colleagues are a step closer to understanding how specificity is achieved in the immune system. The team's research in Current Biology (24, 1361-1368) show that a protein signalling complex forms at the cell periphery close to a calcium channel called the CRAC channel that lets calcium ions enter the cell. As the calcium enters, its target is immediately and selectively activated. This mechanism explains how different ways of increasing calcium activates different cellular responses. The results also reveal that targeting the CRAC channel therapeutically should be an effective approach to control the severity of an immune response.
Professor Zoltán Molnár talks to Dr Erica Charters for a History of Medicine perspective on Oxford physician and Father of Neurology Thomas Willis.
On 27 January 2021 we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of the greatest neuroanatomist of all time, Thomas Willis. DPAG's Professor Zoltán Molnár has interviewed 8 experts - watch a video preview of what's to come from Monday onwards! With thanks to St John's College.
Cardiac Theme Postdoctoral Publication Research
The earliest known progenitor of the outermost layer of the heart has been characterised for the first time and linked to the development of other critical cell types in the developing heart in a new paper from the Srinivas group led by BHF Immediate Fellow Dr Richard Tyser.
Postdoctoral Research
In a new study into the longer-term damage amongst patients recovering from COVID-19, DPAG Research Fellow Dr James Grist of the Tyler Lab has been running a novel scanning technique that shows a dramatic decrease in the ability of the lungs to diffuse gas in to the blood stream after COVID infection. This work may shed light on the problem of breathlessness after COVID infection and help guide us in understanding therapeutic selection and efficacy.
CNCB Publication Research
Hundreds of dietary supplements have been reported to improve cognitive and emotional function in humans, but few have scientific foundation. A new study from the Waddell group provides fresh insight into how dietary Magnesium supplementation can influence memory performance.
New research led by Oxford BHF CRE Intermediate Transition Fellow Dr Kerstin Timm shows that a recently developed imaging technique pioneered by the Tyler Group can detect early metabolic changes in the heart caused by a commonly used chemotherapy drug, which is known to increase risk of heart failure in cancer survivors.