ScienceDaily -- Dr. Sylvain Meloche, Principal Investigator at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Université de Montréal, and his colleagues have uncovered the critical role played by the protein kinase Erk3 in fetal growth potential and lung maturation. The recent findings, published in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveal that the loss of Erk3 function in the mouse leads to fetal growth restriction and early neonatal lethality caused by respiratory distress.
