QnAs with Susan L. Lindquist
Name
Nair-2011-QnAs with Susan L. L.pdf
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469.26 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
28cd1fe45ca072b495792952e2028a50
Author(s)
Nair, Prashant
Lindquist, Susan
Date Issued
November 2011
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Citation
Nair, P. “QnAs with Susan L. Lindquist.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108.50 (2011): 19861–19861. Copyright ©2011 by the National Academy of Sciences
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Prions defy molecular biology’s central dogma. Misfolded proteins that self-perpetuate, prions were first isolated in the early 1980s as the cause of a fatal sheep disease called scrapie. Since then, prions have been implicated in human neurodegenerative diseases, composing a rogue’s gallery of deadly disease agents. Susan Lindquist, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, has found that prions may have a little-appreciated positive side. Lindquist casts these seeming biochemical misfits in a surprising evolutionary role: Her studies have revealed that prions might help cells adapt to a host of environmental pressures. Lindquist explains this still-contentious idea to PNAS readers.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118394108
