Citation | Roger Davis is distinguished for his contributions to our understanding of the nature and physiological roles of protein kinase cascades that mediate cellular responses to environmental stress and proinflammatory cytokines. His contributions to the area include the identification of the three isoforms and ten alternatively spliced variants of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), their activators MKK4 and MKK7, several of the extracellular signals that activate this pathway, the requirement of JNK in embryonic development, neuronal excitotoxicity, stress-induced apoptosis, and the cytochrome c-mediated pathway of stress-induced apoptosis in fibroblasts. He discovered the JIP group of cell membrane associated proteins that serve as structural adaptors to organise protein kinases in the JNK signalling pathway within the cell. He has also identified MKK3 and MKK6, the activators of p38 MAP kinase. Roger Davis has been at the forefront of this extremely competitive area for a number of years and, according to the Institute for Scientific Information, published more highly cited reports over the years 1995 and 1996 than any other scientist. |