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Overview
The Unit on Cellular Communication, headed by Mihaela Serpe, investigates molecular mechanisms that regulate cellular signaling during development, employng the Drosophila system. The group's studies on early embryonic patterning showed how evolutionary changes in proteolytic destruction of the BMP-binding protein Sog by Tolloid/BMP-1 have influenced morphogen gradient formation and function in the Drosophila embryo. The group recently identified a neuropillin and tolloid-like protein, Neto, as a component essential for clustering the ionotropic glutamate receptors at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction.