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Hormones—or any molecule that binds to a receptor, known as a ligand—that are lipid-insoluble (water-soluble) are not able to diffuse across the cell membrane. In order to be able to affect a cell without entering it, these hormones bind to receptors on the cell membrane. When a first messenger, a hormone, binds to a receptor, a signal cascade is set off, causing second messengers, proteins inside the cell, to become activated, resulting in downstream effects.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Forward Genetic Screen Using Transgenic Calcium Reporter Aequorin to Identify Novel Targets in Calcium Signaling

Forward Genetic Screen Using Transgenic Calcium Reporter Aequorin to Identify Novel Targets in Calcium Signaling

Published on: August 1, 2020

CaSiAn: a Calcium Signaling Analyzer tool.

Mahsa Moein¹, Kamil Grzyb¹, Teresa Gonçalves Martins¹

¹Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Belvaux L-4367, Luxembourg.

Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)

|April 19, 2018

Summary

Calcium signals in cells are not just oscillations but have unique stochastic spiking patterns. The Calcium Signaling Analyzer (CaSiAn) software quantifies these complex calcium dynamics.

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Area of Science:

Cellular Biology
Biophysics

Background:

Calcium ions (Ca2+) act as crucial second messengers in eukaryotic cells, regulating diverse cellular functions.
Recent findings challenge the traditional view of calcium signals as purely oscillatory, revealing stochastic spiking with specific characteristics.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce Calcium Signaling Analyzer (CaSiAn), an open-source software tool.
To enable semi-automated quantification of stochastic calcium spiking characteristics and time-course statistics.

Main Methods:

Development of CaSiAn, a Java-based software with a graphical user interface.
Semi-automated analysis of calcium signals, including interactive peak detection and statistical measure revision.

Main Results:

CaSiAn allows for the quantification of individual spike properties and overall signal statistics.
The software facilitates processing of large datasets of calcium signals.
Quantified data can be exported into accessible formats like Excel or text files.

Conclusions:

CaSiAn provides an intuitive platform for researchers to analyze complex calcium signaling dynamics.
The tool supports the detailed characterization of stochastic calcium spiking, advancing the understanding of calcium's role in cellular processes.