Joseph Schlessinger | Discovering how receptor tyrosine kinases are activated and signals

The first growth factors identified and studied during the early 1970s were Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) and Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). It was soon demonstrated that EGF and NGF mediate their cellular and physiological effects by binding to specific cell membrane receptors: the EGF receptor (EGFR) and the NGF receptor (NGFR), respectively. The mechanisms of activation and signaling of these…