Blobel, of Rockefeller University in New York, was visionary in his discovery of how proteins move within cells, McCracken says of the founder of this area of cell biology. He was the first to propose that proteins have signals that act as addresses to deliver them to their proper destination, and he defined the signals and trafficking route for proteins destined for secretion. McCracken has taken Blobel's work a step further by discovering a novel protein trafficking pathway. This recycling pathway explains the defect in a number of diseases. McCracken has presented her research findings at numerous international and national scientific gatherings.
Cells are extremely complicated.
One of their functions is to produce proteins that are used in the body. The newly synthesized proteins must be delivered to their proper places within the cell or elsewhere in the body in order to perform their normal duties. When this complicated delivery process goes awry, disease can be the result. Emphysema, a respiratory disease that affects children and adults, can be caused by a flaw in the genetic code that directs the protein Alpha-1 proteinase inhibitor to the recycling bin instead of along the pathway that leads to secretion of the protein into the blood. This results in too little of this inhibitor enzyme in the blood that circulates through the lungs, resulting in damage to the lung tissue.