eLife Sciences Publications is a non-profit organization that publishes the open-access journal eLife, which is funded by major scientific organizations. Randy Schekman, the Editor-in-Chief of eLife, wrote a letter of recommendation for Jarred Whitlock for his work as joint first author on a paper identifying a lipid scrambling domain in ANO6/TMEM16F, which was published in eLife. The paper provided convincing evidence that ANO6 is a phospholipid scramblase and identified the minimal region required for phosphatidylserine scrambling. Schekman praised the high quality of the research and impact of the discovery.

1.
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd is a limited liability non-profit non-stock corporation incorporated in the State of Delaware, USA, with
company number 5030732, and is registered in the UK with company number FC030576 and branch number BR015634 at the address
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15
July
2015
Letter
of
recommendation
for
Jarred
M
Whitlock
To
whom
it
may
concern,
I
am
very
pleased
to
provide
this
letter
to
support
Jarred
Whitlock’s
career
progression.
Jarred
is
joint
first
author
of
“Identification
of
a
lipid
scrambling
domain
in
ANO6/TMEM16F”
(http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06901),
which
has
been
published
by
eLife,
the
open-­‐access
journal
funded
by
the
Howard
Hughes
Medical
Institute,
the
Wellcome
Trust,
and
the
Max
Planck
Society.
eLife
is
run
by
scientists
who
are
active
in
their
fields
of
expertise,
who
select
highly
significant
new
research
for
publication.
We
are
committed
to
serving
and
supporting
authors
who
are
publishing
work
in
our
journal,
in
particular
those
at
an
early
stage
in
their
career.
The
exposure
of
phosphatidylserine
on
the
external
leaflet
of
the
plasma
membrane
by
phospholipid
scrambling
occurs
in
several
biological
processes
and
is
an
important
cellular
signalling
mechanism.
However,
there
has
been
great
uncertainty
about
the
identity
of
the
phospholipid
scramblases
involved
in
such
processes.
Whitlock
studied
the
lipid
scrambling
activity
of
ANO6/TMEM16F
(ANO6),
which
has
been
proposed
to
be
a
Ca2+-­‐activated
scramblase.
Yet,
it
has
also
been
suggested
that
ANO6
is
required
for
lipid
scrambling
by
forming
an
ion
channel
but
not
by
performing
the
scrambling
activity
itself.
Whitlock
convincingly
showed
that
ANO6
is
a
'true'
scramblase
and
developed
evidence
that
the
recorded
ion
channel
activity
of
ANO6
is
a
consequence
(a
leak
current)
of
phospholipid
scrambling.
In
an
elegant
and
very
detailed
manner
he
and
his
co-­‐authors
identified
a
minimal
region
in
ANO6
required
for
PS
scrambling.
This
is
an
excellent
study
that
we
were
delighted
to
publish
in
eLife.
I
have
extensive
experience
reviewing
for
well-­‐established
top-­‐tier
journals
and
can
say
with
confidence
that
the
impact
of
the
discovery
renders
it
highly
suitable
for
the
most
competitive
journals.
Please
do
not
hesitate
to
contact
me
if
I
can
be
of
any
assistance.
Yours
sincerely,
Randy
Schekman
Editor-­‐in-­‐Chief,
eLife
Howard
Hughes
Medical
Institute,
University
of
California,
Berkeley
schekman@berkeley.edu