Date: 25 Oct 2009 Comments: 0

Dr. Joseph Schlessinger is one of the first investigators of the field of Signal Transduction, which is essential for cancer research, and many other fields as well.

Signal transduction indicates to any process by which a cell converts a type of signal. Most signal transduction processes either involve sequences which are ordered of biochemical reactions within the cell. These are then carried out by enzymes, activated by second messengers. The final result is a signal transduction pathway. This usually happens extremely quickly, normally in milliseconds (such as the case of ion flux). Other times this can take minutes for the activation of lipid-mediated and protein kinase cascades. That being said, some such reactions can take a few hours, days and even more. This is determined by necessity of the gene expression completion.

The amount of molecules and proteins participating in the scenarios regarding to signal transduction grows as the process emanates from the primary stimulus, resulting in a “signal cascade,” beginning with a relatively small stimulus that causes a much greater response. This is referred to as amplification of the signal.

In single cell organisms as well as bacteria, the multitude of process of signal transduction of which the cell is capable of influences how many ways it can respond to its environment. In more complex organisms, a myriad multitude of different signal transduction processes are necessary for the coordination of the behavior and function of the comprising individual cells. This is both understandable and necessary so the whole organism can properly function. As you could expect, more complex organisms have a larger number of signal transduction processes. Thus, getting any stimuli from the outside environment at the cellular level depends on signal transduction.

This is why countless illnesses including cancer, diabetes, heart disease and many more are involved with signal transduction and are a result of a defect of the signal transduction pathways. This work is still far from being finished and additional grants are needed for the better of us all.