How cells decide when to accept extracellular packages

Newswise — Endocytosis, a fundamental process that cells use to take in macromolecules, functions a lot like an airlock on a spaceship – but squishier, says Dr. Gunther Hollopeter, assistant professor of molecular medicine at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Researchers have studied how cells initiate and perform endocytosis since the 1960s, but in a new paper in the journal eLIFE, Hollopeter’s lab finally describes how cells shut down this important cellular machinery. And their findings are not without controversy.

“Until our work, people had not appreciated that it’s important to turn this process off,” said Hollopeter. Endocytosis functions in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s,…