The preamble to the free radical biology and medicine virtual special issue on “Targeting genetic biosensors to intracellular signaling pathways”

Abstract

Studying biological signaling pathways is key to understanding the various processes within a cell. The science of biological redox regulation is a rapidly growing research area with implications for various disciplines, including physiology, cell biology, and clinical medicine. Given the role that oxidative stress plays in numerous disease states, the area of redox regulation is receiving increasing attention from other life science disciplines. Balancing the beneficial and harmful effects of free radicals is an essential aspect of life. A disrupted redox balance in pathological states demonstrates the biological relevance of redox regulation and its implications for various signaling and metabolic processes. The transition that redox research undergoes these days is particularly exciting because the information from different fields and independent approaches are coming together, painting a wholly new and meaningful picture. Therefore, this is a good window of opportunity to summarize the most critical (redox)-tools and their multiparametric applications for signaling pathways and metabolic activities. This special issue brings together novel experimental model systems, informative biosensors, chemogenetic and nanobody approaches to address the redox-dependent relationship between cellular activities allowing for a more holistic approach to understanding coordinated reactions of a range of molecules in a cell.