A collaborative study involving scientists from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the School of Biosciences at the University of Kent has uncovered how factors involved in the beginning and end phases of protein synthesis communicate with each other. Understanding the core cellular process of protein synthesis is important because its malfunctioning causes a variety of human diseases, and its targeted manipulation underpins a multi-billion dollar bioprocessing industry. The findings shed new light on the molecular processes by which cells make protein synthesis is more efficient.
Dr Tobias von der Haar, the Kent PI involved in this study, teaches Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Paper: Beznosková, P., Cuchalová, L., Wagner, S., Shoemaker, C.J., Gunišová, S., von der Haar, T. & Valásek, L.S. (2013) Translation Initiation Factors eIF3 and HCR1 Control Translation and Stop Codon Read-Through in Yeast Cells. PLOS Genetics, 9, e1003962.