Kai Simons began researching cell membrane biology in the 1960s and 70s as a postdoc at Rockefeller University in New York, and he’s never looked back. “The field [is] at the crossroads of protein and lipid biochemistry, as well as cell biology and biophysics,” making it a challenging—but exciting—area to work in, says Simons, director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany. Simons and his colleagues recently discovered that lipids and proteins interact to form transport carriers in the cell membrane, research described on page 24. Unearthing these interactions, known as the raft concept, could help “provide novel targets for drug discovery,” says Simons.
As former editor of the research policy newsletter Research Europe, Colin Macilwain has covered the European Research Council since it opened its doors. “If Europe is to remain a player, the ERC really has to succeed,” he says. ...
