This gene encodes a protein belonging to the 'with no lysine' family of serine-threonine protein kinases. These family members lack the catalytic lysine in subdomain II, and instead have a conserved lysine in subdomain I. This family member functions as a positive regulator of the transcellular Ca2+ transport pathway, and it plays a role in the increase of cell survival in a caspase-3-dependent pathway. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants.