To help support worldwide research on LRRK2 biology, the groups of Dario Alessi and Miratul Muqit (University of Dundee) Suzanne Pfeffer and

Dr Yogesh Kulathu, MRC Investigator and Group Leader at the MRC PPU has just been awarded an European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant of 2.1 million euros, that will enable his team to develop new technologies and methodologies to investigate unexplored areas of ubiquitin biology.

Dysfunctional mitochondria have been linked to a range of rare diseases, such as MELAS (Mitochondrial Encephalopathy, Lactic acidosis, and Stroke-like episodes), Pearson Syndrome and mitochondrial DNA depletion, as well as more prevalent diseases, including Parkinson’s.

Congratulations to MRC PPU PIs Gopal Sapkota and Satpal Virdee who have been promoted to Professorial Chairs by the University of Dundee.

Congratulations to MRC PPU PIs Gopal Sapkota and Satpal Virdee who have been promoted to Professorial Chairs by the University of Dundee.

Protein kinases are enzymes that attach phosphate to proteins, a process known as “phosphorylation”. Phosphorylation can change the shape of proteins and hence their ability to function, so that kinases are key controller enzymes that regulate almost every process in human cells.

Missense mutations that hyperactivate the LRRK2 protein kinase are a common cause of familial Parkinson’s disease. Recruitment of LRRK2 to membranes leads to its activation, where it phosphorylates a group of Rab GTPase proteins, including Rab10 and Rab12, within the effector-binding switch-II motif.

Research by Kris Clark, a former postdoc in Philip Cohen's lab, led to the discovery eight years ago that the SIK subfamily of protein kinases suppress the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 by phosphorylating and inactivating CRTC3, co-activator of the transcription factor CREB.

Autophagy is a key cellular process that degrades unwanted, damaged or toxic cellular intracellular components and its dysfunction has been linked to many diseases ranging from cancer to neurodegeneration. The kinase ULK1 is critical in initiating autophagy and is thus an attractive therapeutic target, yet we do not fully understand how ULK1 controls autophagy induction.

Latest research from Greg Findlay’s lab in the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (MRC PPU) is published today in Developmental Cell.