Membrane Traffic in Disease and Novel Therapies

One of the most important challenges for the Biomedical Sciences this century is to develop a comprehensive knowledge of the fundamental unit of life, the cell. One main question in Molecular Cell Biology is focused on understanding how cells achieve their highly sophisticated internal compartmentalisation. Each organelle is individualised by membranes, which contain specific proteins and lipids to execute specific functions. How are proteins and lipids sorted and retained to different locations or in other words how are organelles made, maintained (identified) and how do they communicate with each other?