Primary ciliogenesis requires the distal appendage component Cep123.

Primary cilium formation is initiated at the distal end of the mother centriole in a highly co-ordinated manner. This requires the capping of the distal end of the mother centriole with a ciliary vesicle and the anchoring of the basal body (mother centriole) to the cell cortex, both of which are mediated by the distal appendages. Here, we show that the distal appendage protein Cep123 (Cep89/CCDC123) is required for the assembly, but not the maintenance, of a primary cilium.

Translation of a tumor microenvironment mimicking 3D tumor growth co-culture assay platform to high-content screening.

For drug discovery, cell-based assays are becoming increasingly complex to mimic more realistically the nature of biological processes and their diversifications in diseases. Multicellular co-cultures embedded in a three-dimensional (3D) matrix have been explored in oncology to more closely approximate the physiology of the human tumor microenvironment. High-content analysis is the ideal technology to characterize these complex biological systems, although running such complex assays at higher throughput is a major endeavor.

Autophosphorylation of polo-like kinase 4 and its role in centriole duplication.

Centrosome duplication occurs once every cell cycle in a strictly controlled manner. Polo-like kinase 4 (PLK4) is a key regulator of this process whose kinase activity is essential for centriole duplication. Here, we show that PLK4 autophosphorylation of serine S305 is a consequence of kinase activation and enables the active fraction to be identified in the cell.

Effect of an hdm-2 antagonist peptide inhibitor on cell cycle progression in p53-deficient H1299 human lung carcinoma cells.

The hdm-2 oncogene is overexpressed in several types of malignancies including osteosarcomas, soft tissue sarcomas and gliomas and hdm-2 has been associated with accelerated tumor formation in both hereditary and sporadic cancers. Among the other key binding partners, hdm-2 forms a complex with the tumor suppressor p53, resulting in a rapid proteasome-mediated degradation of the p53 protein. This positions the hdm-2-p53 complex as an attractive target for the development of anticancer therapy and recently the first small molecule hdm-2 antagonist has been reported.

Assay development for high throughput screening of p21(Waf1/Cip1) protein expression in intact cells using fluorometric microvolume assay technology.

The p21(Waf1/Cip1) protein represents a broad-acting cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor that plays a key role in cell cycle regulation. Furthermore, p21(Waf1/Cip1) protein has been described as a direct participant in regulating genes involved in growth arrest, senescence and aging. In response to genotoxic insults (e.