Bioprospecting – the collection, screening and scientific use of plant genetic information to improve food crops and for the development of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and other consumer goods – is testimony to the ever-increasing value of biodiversity in the global economy. But in what does the challenge of a global genetic resource management consist and why should scientists and the wider public care about its social implications?

Translational research is a scientific research which helps make findings from basic science useful for practical applications that enhance human health and wellbeing.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a common (one affected newborn out of 2500), autosomic recessive, genetic disease in the white population and is due to mutations in the ABCC7 gene.

ABCD congratulates James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof, Winners of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.

Endocytosis is the process used by eukaryotic cells to internalize molecules and particulate matter into vesicles.