Department of Biology, Volen Center for Complex Systems and National Center for Behavioral Genomics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454-9110, USA. griffith@brandeis.edu
Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a pivotal signaling molecule in both the brain and the heart. In this issue of Cell, Erickson et al. (2008) demonstrate a mechanism for CaMKII activation by reactive oxygen species that provides a direct link between kinase activation and cardiac dysfunction.