Today, activation endoproteolysis of secretory proteins is recognized as a fundamental biological mechanism of spatial and temporal regulation of protein activity as well as of diversification of protein functions. In Proprotein Convertases, experts in the field examine detailed methods involving proprotein convertases, the enzymes mediating this endoproteolysis, which reside within or cycle between the various compartments of the secretory pathway. Providing a timely assessment of impact of activation/inactivation endoproteolysis in the secretory pathway, the volume offers a broader perspective on the biochemistry of the PCSKs (proprotein convertases, subtilisin/kexin-type) by exploring structural and functional analogies with bacterial subtilisin and on the enzymology of endoproteolysis itself by describing the involvement in the process of non-PCSK-type such as cathepsin L. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their specific topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Meticulous and up-to-date, Proprotein Convertases represents an instructive and useful reference book for all scientists interested in endoproteolytic activation and/or inactivation of secretory proproteins through limited proteolysis, for experts in the field and newcomers to it as well.

Today, activation endoproteolysis of secretory proteins is recognized as a fundamental biological mechanism of spatial and temporal regulation of protein activity as well as of diversification of protein functions. In Proprotein Convertases, experts in the field examine detailed methods involving proprotein convertases, the enzymes mediating this endoproteolysis, which reside within or cycle between the various compartments of the secretory pathway. Providing a timely assessment of impact of activation/inactivation endoproteolysis in the secretory pathway, the volume offers a broader perspective on the biochemistry of the PCSKs (proprotein convertases, subtilisin/kexin-type) by exploring structural and functional analogies with bacterial subtilisin and on the enzymology of endoproteolysis itself by describing the involvement in the process of non-PCSK-type such as cathepsin L. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their specific topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Meticulous and up-to-date, Proprotein Convertases represents an instructive and useful reference book for all scientists interested in endoproteolytic activation and/or inactivation of secretory proproteins through limited proteolysis, for experts in the field and newcomers to it as well.

This collection is a silo of my references and my reflexes, accumulated and assimilated over the years, which sustain me in my daily quest for understanding, and vaguely, very vaguely, define me in my hopes and my doubts. It is a collection of analects fetched out of my curriculum hominis, out of my career as a human being, and translated into the multiple languages of my learning. They are answers that trot into my mind, that never exhaust the questions, but question them forevermore, in a fast, almost absurd, carousel of questioning.

This book is a collection of short essays that I wrote between 2000 and 2004 for a quarterly catholic magazine of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It contains opinions and thoughts that I was given the chance to share with my community of origin and faith - and with many others, as I understand - on various topics of interest to the African, the Congolese, the Canadian, the scientist and the believer that I am. As one, these different facets of mine held the pen that crafted these words. These words are a partial and passing reflection of my multiple quests for understanding, from the Congo of my birth and youth, to my adoptive Canada where I now live. They contain no eternal truth. There are mere expressions of my lifelong inclination to ignore appearances, and to search, through the noisy claims of certainty, the vast unknown still to be explored.