Shoshana Daly

Spotlight on the Scheck Lab

One of the first things that students learn when they enter a biology class is the central dogma: DNA → RNA → Proteins. Proteins are the workers of our cells. From signaling cascades to intracellular transport, from energy metabolism to DNA repair, proteins are behind it all. In most intro level biology courses, we learn simply: amino acids dictate a protein's structure and thus determine its function as a result. However, there is another piece to this story: namely, what happens to proteins after they are formed. Post-Translational modifications are chemical changes that can change a protein's function, inactivate it or activate it.