Protozoan paradigms for cell biology

This article introduces a miniseries of three commentaries on parasite cell biology. The reviews were written as a tribute to Keith Vickerman FRS on h is retirement as Regius Professor of Zoology at the University of Glasgow a nd are based on presentations given at a symposium held to honour his pione ering work in the field. On page 2799 of this issue, Michael Ferguson revie ws the structure and function of GPI anchors, and the contributions that st udies of trypanosomes have made, In subsequent issues, James Alexander, Abh ay Satoskar and David Russell discuss Leishmania species as models of intra cellular parasitism, and Michael Turner presents a holistic view of antigen ic variation in Trypanosoma brucei infections.