In the world of signaling receptors, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are superstars. Their moves are followed closely by researchers because they play a key role in our health, such as regulating heart and lung function; impacting mood, cognition, and memory; and prompting digestion and inflammatory responses. Carnegie Mellon's Manojkumar Puthenveedu, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, and his international team of researchers revealed for the first time how GPCRs known as b2ARs—which play a critical role in cardiac and brain physiology—travel back to the cell membrane after they have been activated and internalized. Published in the journal Cell, this knowledge could help develop targeted pharmaceutical treatments for diseases that result from abnormal cell signaling.
—Elizabeth May
