Nature Cell Biology

doi: 10.1038/s41556-018-0190-4pmid: 30154551

Open discourse to identify challenges and devise solutions is essential to abolish gender inequalities globally and in science. In our ‘Focus on Women in Science’, we celebrate the achievements and consider the concerns of women researchers from around the world, who share some of the turning points of their scientific careers.

Ebner, Michael; Haucke, Volker

doi: 10.1038/s41556-018-0181-5pmid: 30154561

Maintaining plasma membrane tension is important for eukaryotic cells. How altered membrane tension is sensed and relayed to downstream factors, such as the target of rapamyin complex 2 (TORC2), is poorly understood. Reorganization of a signalling lipid into discrete membrane domains is now shown to inactivate TORC2 in yeast.

Hosios, Aaron; Manning, Brendan

doi: 10.1038/s41556-018-0188-ypmid: 30154562

Rag GTPases facilitate mTORC1 activation by recruiting it to Rheb at the lysosome when amino acids are abundant. A study now shows that the amino acid-induced change in the GTP/GDP-binding state of the Rag heterodimer paradoxically increases its dynamic release from the Ragulator at the lysosome and may limit mTORC1 activation.

Garric, Laurence; Bakkers, Jeroen

doi: 10.1038/s41556-018-0168-2pmid: 30061679

During embryo development, concentration gradients of signalling molecules instruct formation of different cell types. How these gradients adapt to variable embryo sizes to form a properly scaled individual remains elusive. A simple system of an activator and an inhibitor, with different diffusion properties, may give an answer.

Akhtar, Asifa

doi: 10.1038/s41556-018-0175-3pmid: 30154552

Asifa Akhtar is Director at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics. Her lab focuses on chromatin and epigenetic regulation. A member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation, she received the European Life Science Organization award in 2008 and the Wilhelm Feldberg Prize in 2017.

Etienne-Manneville, Sandrine

doi: 10.1038/s41556-018-0160-xpmid: 30154553

Sandrine Etienne-Manneville investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying cell migration in health and disease. She is Head of the Cell Polarity, Migration and Cancer laboratory, Director of the CNRS UMR3691 unit at the Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, a professor of cell biology and a mother of four.

Hamasaki, Maho

doi: 10.1038/s41556-018-0180-6pmid: 30154554

Maho Hamasaki is an associate professor at Osaka University, Japan. Maho’s laboratory focuses on investigating the mechanistic underpinnings of autophagy and the role of the autophagic process in disease.

Ip, Nancy Y.

doi: 10.1038/s41556-018-0159-3pmid: 30154555

Nancy Y. Ip is Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies, the Morningside Professor of Life Science, and Director of the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China. Her career in the field of neuroscience spans over three decades.

Khanna, Kum Kum

doi: 10.1038/s41556-018-0170-8pmid: 30154556

Professor Kum Kum Khanna heads the Signal Transduction Laboratory at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia. She studies the role of the DNA damage response in tissue homeostasis and disease, including how to exploit its dysregulation in breast cancer to develop targeted therapeutic approaches.

Little, Melissa

doi: 10.1038/s41556-018-0158-4pmid: 30154557

Melissa Little is an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow and Cell Biology Theme Director at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. She also leads Stem Cells Australia, University of Melbourne. She studies kidney morphogenesis and regeneration using pluripotent stem cells.