Shift-work research: Where do we stand,where should we go?

Sleep and Biological Rhythms - Shift-work seriously affects the health and well-being of millions of people worldwide, and the number of shift workers is constantly rising (currently approximately...     

Comparative Modelling Techniques: Where are we?

The enormous increase in data availability brought about by genomic projects is paralleled by an equally unprecedented increase in the expectations for new medical, pharmacological, environmental and biotechnological discoveries. Whether or not we will be able to meet (at least partially) these expectations will depend on how well we will be able to interpret the data and translate the mono-dimensional information encrypted in genomes into a detailed understanding of its biological meaning at the phenotypic level. The process is far from being trivial, and the obstacles along the road are formidable: even the problem of identifying coding regions in eukaryotic genomes is not completely solved. Far more complex is identification of the function of the encoded proteins, and this will probably represent the most challenging problem for the next generations of scientists.     

50 Years of Women in Cell Biology: Where have we been? Where are we going?

It’s been 50 years since Women in Cell Biology (WICB) was founded by junior women cell biologists who found themselves neither represented at the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) presentations nor receiving the information, mentoring, and sponsorship they needed to advance their careers. Since then, gender parity at ASCB has made significant strides: WICB has become a standing ASCB committee, women are regularly elected president of the ASCB, and half the symposia speakers are women. Many of WICB’s pioneering initiatives for professional development, including career panels, workshops, awards for accomplishments in science and mentoring, and career mentoring roundtables, have been incorporated and adapted into broader “professional development” that benefits all members of ASCB. The time has passed when we can assume that all women benefit equally from progress. By strategically, thoughtfully, and honestly recognizing the challenges to women of the past and today, we may anticipate those new challenges that will arise in the next 50 years. WICB, in collaboration with the ASCB, can lead in data collection and access and can promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. This work will be a fitting homage to the women who, half a century ago, posted bathroom stall invitations to the first Women in Cell Biology meetup.     

Leptin in farm animals: where are we and where can we go?

Fat affects meat quality, value and production efficiency as well as providing energy reserves for pregnancy and lactation in farm livestock. Leptin, the adipocyte product of the obese (ob) gene, was quickly seen as a predictor of body fat content in animals approaching slaughter and an aid to assessing reproductive readiness in females. Its participation in inflammation and immune responses that help animals survive infection and trauma has clear additional relevance to meat and milk production. Furthermore, almost a decade of discoveries of nucleotide polymorphisms in the leptin and leptin receptor genes has suggested useful applications relating to feed intake regulation, the efficiency of feed use, the composition of growth, the timing of puberty, mammogenesis and mammary gland function and fertility in cattle, pigs and poultry. The current review attempts to summarise where research has taken us in each of these aspects and speculates on where future research might lead.     

Molecular targeted therapies in breast cancer: Where are we now?

Targeted therapies, in cancer treatment, represent a new generation of drugs that interfere with specific molecular targets (typically proteins) having critical roles to play in tumour growth or progression. The principle of targeted therapy is certainly not new: tamoxifen, a hormonal agent targeted at the estrogen receptor, has been in use for more than 30 years. However, this principle has re-gained significant emphasis with the recent development of new biological agents, such as trastuzumab, which was first approved for the treatment of advanced breast cancer (BC) in 1998. Presently, there are at least three different targeted therapies with well documented activity in advanced BC and all three are now being studied in the adjuvant setting; trastuzumab and bevacizumab are monoclonal antibodies, and lapatinib is a dual inhibitor of HER-1 and HER-2. This paper will review the increasing role of molecular targeted therapies in BC, with a particular focus on those drugs currently being tested in early BC, as well as, on future perspectives.     

Where next?

This paper provides a personal perspective on the rich discussions at the Bixby Forum. The size, rate of growth and age structure of the human population interact with many other key factors, from environmental change to governance. While the details of future interactions are sometimes difficult to predict, taken together they pose sombre threats to a socially and economically sustainable future for the rich and to any realistic possibility of lifting the world''s bottom two billion people out of poverty. Adaptive changes will be needed to cope with an ageing population in countries with low fertility or below, but these are achievable. More worrying, continued rapid population growth in many of the least developed countries could lead to hunger, a failure of education to keep pace with growing numbers, and conflict. The assumption that the demographic transition from high to low birth rates occurs as a result of exogenous social and economic forces is being replaced by a clearer understanding of the many barriers that separate women from the knowledge and technologies they need to manage their childbearing within a human rights framework. The forum ended with a clear consensus that much more emphasis needs to be given to meeting the need for family planning and to investing in education.     

Future research in weight bias: What next?

The 2015 Canadian Weight Bias Summit disseminated the newest research advances and brought together 40 experts, stakeholders, and policy makers in various disciplines in health, education, and public policy to identify future research directions in weight bias. In this paper we aim to share the results of the Summit as well as encourage international and interdisciplinary research collaborations in weight bias reduction. Consensus emerged on six research areas that warrant further investigation in weight bias: costs, causes, measurement, qualitative research and lived experience, interventions, and learning from other models of discrimination. These discussions highlighted three key lessons that were informed by the Summit, namely: language matters, the voices of people living with obesity should be incorporated, and interdisciplinary stakeholders should be included.     

Clinical applications of mass spectrometry-based proteomics in cancer: Where are we?

Tumor tissue processing methodologies in combination with data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry (DIA-MS) have emerged that can comprehensively analyze the proteome of multiple tumor samples accurately and reproducibly. Increasing recognition and adoption of these technologies has resulted in a tranche of studies providing novel insights into cancer classification systems, functional tumor biology, cancer biomarkers, treatment response and drug targets. Despite this, with some limited exceptions, MS-based proteomics has not yet been implemented in routine cancer clinical practice. Here, we summarize the use of DIA-MS in studies that may pave the way for future clinical cancer applications, and highlight the role of alternative MS technologies and multi-omic strategies. We discuss limitations and challenges of studies in this field to date and propose steps for integrating proteomic data into the cancer clinic.