Editor Teresa Carlomagno 2009 Synthetic, Structural and Mechanistic Insights The multifaceted conformational properties of tubulin have represented a challenge for mechanistic and structural studies of the protein for the past 20 years. The conformational equilibrium between the dimeric and polymeric form of tubulin can be controlled by different solvents (H2O, D2O, DMSO), cofactors (divalent ions, as for example Mg2+, […]

Editors: Lit-Fui Lau · Michael A. Brodney 2008 It was one hundred and one years ago that Alois Alzheimer presented at a scientific meeting a case of progressive dementia in a 51-year-old patient Auguste D. Postmortem analysis revealed two pathologies, namely, senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. These findings were published the following year in 1907. In 1910 Emil Kraepelin, […]

Editor Robert H. Bradbury 2007 With supreme irony, the beginnings of modern cancer chemotherapy originated in chemical warfare. Autopsy findings from soldiers killed in the First World War by exposure to sulphur mustard gas led to the proposal in the 1940s that low doses of nitrogen mustard might cause regression of human lymphatic tumors. The pioneering success of this […]