Motivation and Objectives
Understanding intracellular communication processes is essential, since they allow the cell to perform the totality of its functions. Among them each cell has a self-destruction system that starts and operates in a regulated manner. It is called apoptosis, and includes the decision to start self-destruction as well as the proper execution of the apoptotic program. Caspases, a family of cysteine proteases, are the central regulators of apoptosis. As such, it requires the coordinated activation and execution of multiple sub programmes.