“The beauty of cell signalling”, writes Michael J. Berridge, “is the way different pathways are combined and adapted to control a diverse array of cellular processes in widely different spatial and temporal domains.” In the newly launched website, called Cell Signalling Biology, Berridge provides a large, comprehensive resource that discusses all of these aspects of cell signalling and integrates emerging cell-signalling findings.
The content is divided into 12 modules. Half of these focus on the components of cell-signalling pathways, with modules specifically dedicated to the on and off mechanisms of components and the spatial and temporal encoding of signalling information. The other half of the modules focus on how these cell-signalling pathways control the life cycle of cells, from cell proliferation through to cell differentiation and apoptosis, with a separate module dedicated to cell-signalling defects and disease. Within each module, content is further subdivided into more focused sections.
The text contains extensive linking to other pertinent sections, as well as to published research articles and reviews. An extensive collection of figures and tables complements the text excellently, and a split-screen setup allows for the convenient and helpful display of a figure or table alongside the text. In addition, a full-text searching function allows users to find relevant information quickly.
The content will be updated annually, and the website can be accessed through a personal or an institutional 12-month subscription or on a pay-per-view basis. But before you throw out your old cell-signalling text books, log on to the currently available free demonstration of this website and make sure that it fills all your cell-signalling-information needs.
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Mullard, A. Cell signalling condensed. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 7, 626 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2012
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2012
