Feature Channels: Cell Biology

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For cell division to be successful, pairs of chromosomes have to line up just right before being swept into their new cells, like the opening of a theater curtain. They accomplish this feat in part thanks to structures called centrioles that provide anchors for the curtain’s ropes. Researchers recently learned that most cells will not divide without centrioles, and they found out why: The protein p53 monitors centriole numbers to prevent potentially disastrous cell divisions.

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Other topics include memories and protein, physics and gas mileage, agriculture and food safety, vaccine for Dengue, retinoblastoma proteins in cancer progression, and more.

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Researchers at the University of Adelaide have discovered a new method for culturing stem cells which sees the highly therapeutic cells grow faster and stronger.

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A review article published on the journal Oncotarget focusing on RB role in apoptosis provides a comprehensive overview on the role of RB proteins in the coordinated control of cell decisions.

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Research from Eric Kandel’s lab has uncovered further evidence of a system in the brain that persistently maintains memories for long periods of time.

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Researchers have developed antibodies to help study critical chemical modifications responsible for a protein’s development

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Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a cell signaling pathway that appears to exert some control over initiation and progression of colorectal cancer, the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. A key protein in the pathway also appears to be predictive of cancer survival rates.

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University of Washington researchers have used a plant hormone to produce cell-to-cell communication in baker's yeast -- a first step in learning to build multicellular organisms or artificial organs from scratch.

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Rather than cellular trash, half of a transfer RNA (tRNA) molecule appears to actively spur cell proliferation in breast and prostate cancers, suggesting a new role for tRNA and a possible target for a new class of therapy.

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Researchers have developed a new informatics technology that analyzes existing data repositories of protein modifications and 3D protein structures to help scientists identify and target research on “hotspots” most likely to be important for biological function.

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Other topics include resurgence of whales off southern California, treating chronic kidney disease, and a breakthrough in a heart-specific type of stem cell.

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Future therapies for failing hearts are likely to include stem-like cells and associated growth factors that regenerate heart muscle. Scientists have just taken an important step towards that future by identifying a stem-like “progenitor” cell that produces only heart muscle cells.

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A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute reveals a key part of the Ebola virus life cycle at a higher resolution than ever before. The research sheds light on how Ebola virus assembles—and how researchers might stop the often-fatal infection.

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The Salk Institute and Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute created a compound that stops a cellular recycling process

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Other topics include weight loss, medical marijuana, smart traffic lights, diabetes, heart disease, and more.

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Indiana University cancer researchers found that a particular microRNA may be a potent therapeutic agent against pancreatic cancer. The research was published June 22 in the journal Scientific Reports.

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Working with heart muscle cells from diabetic rats, scientists at Johns Hopkins have located what they say is the epicenter of mischief wreaked by too much blood sugar and used a sugar-gobbling enzyme to restore normal function in the glucose-damaged cells of animal heart muscles.

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A protein encoded by the gene glypican-1 (GPC1) present on cancer exosomes may be used as part of a potential non-invasive diagnostic and screening tool to detect early pancreatic cancer, potentially at a stage amenable to surgical treatment, according to a study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

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Other topics include dietary guidelines, smart traffic lights, breast cancer, and biomarker tests for cancer treatment.

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By identifying in spinal fluid how the characteristic mutant proteins of Huntington’s disease spread from cell to cell, UC Irvine scientists and colleagues have created a new method to quickly and accurately track the presence and proliferation of these neuron-damaging compounds – a discovery that may accelerate the development of new drugs to treat this incurable disease.

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Macrophage cells require agility to scavenge and digest dead cells and prevent an immune response to self. In lupus, the macrophages lose that agility.

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The discovery was made during an analysis of a species of mistletoe whose apparent ability to survive without key genes involved in energy production could make it one of the most unusual plants on Earth.

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Regenerative medicine researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a cell that replenishes adult heart muscle by using a new cell lineage-tracing technique they devised.

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Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have discovered how an immune system protein, called AIM2 (Absent in Melanoma 2), plays a role in determining the aggressiveness of colon cancer. They found that AIM2 deficiency causes uncontrolled proliferation of intestinal cells.

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Topics include: treating advanced skin cancer, big data and bioenergy, cancer research, 10 reasons to eat quinoa, sleep issues in the nursing field, advances in cancer surgery, genes for sleep, brain receptor for cocaine addiction, and nano imaging on insect adaptations.

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Topics include: A bioengineered patch to improve stem cell therapy for heart patients, Antacid meds raise risk of C. Diff. bacteria infection in kids, nutrition, new treatments for aggressive breast cancer, lab tests, genetic risks.

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Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Lou Gehrig’s, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Huntington's disease, all result in part from a defect in autophagy – one way a cell removes and recycles misfolded proteins and pathogens. Researchers show for the first time that the formation of ephemeral compartments key in this process require actin polymerization by a complex of seven proteins, which creates “comet tails.”

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have devised a powerful set of chemical methods for exploring the biology of proteins. The techniques are designed to reveal protein interactions with lipids.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have teamed up with several other institutions and pharmaceutical companies, to publish the first 3D structures of a receptor implicated in many diseases of the brain and in normal physiology throughout the body.

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Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have made a surprisingly simple discovery: The modification of more than 100 secreted proteins is the work of a single enzyme called Fam20C. The finding is published June 18 by Cell.

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A study by The Cancer Genome Atlas network of researchers refined and revealed molecular sub-groups of patients with cutaneous melanoma who could potentially benefit from targeted treatments based on their tumor genetics, and helped clarify the immune system’s role in the disease.

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Scientists from the UNC School of Medicine provide the first direct experimental evidence for how primordial proteins developed the ability to accelerate the central chemical reaction necessary to synthesize proteins and thus allow life to arise not long after Earth was created.

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As a spinoff from their research aimed at fighting a specific parasite, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Brandeis University may have found a way around an infectious bacterium’s natural defenses.

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A team of University of Washington researchers has identified a mechanism that some plant cells use to receive complex and contradictory messages from their neighbors.

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A protein long believed to only guard the nucleus also regulates gene expression and stem cell development

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Melanoma patients with high levels of a protein that controls the expression of pro-growth genes are less likely to survive, according to a new study.

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Early age at menarche, or first menstrual cycle, could play a role in the disproportionate incidence of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancers diagnosed among African-American women, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

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Now research conducted in fruit flies, rats and monkeys by scientists at Johns Hopkins, UC San Diego, and other institutions reveals that levels of a protein called vinculin increase with age to alter the shape and performance of cardiac muscle cells — a healthy adaptive change that helps sustain heart muscle vitality over many decades.

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Despite the intense activity and high hopes that surround the use of stem cells to reverse heart disease, scientists still face multiple roadblocks before the treatment will be ready for clinical prime time. Researchers are now finding ways to maximize the healing potential of stem cells by helping them overcome the inhospitable conditions of a damaged heart – bringing the promise of stem cell therapy for heart disease one step closer to reality.

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Although critically important for shaping the immune response and maintaining self-tolerance, how regulatory T cells (Treg cells) hold on to their immune-suppressive powers had remained unclear. Now, for the first time, researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology identified a molecular pathway that maintains the stability and function of Treg cells.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: An anonymous donor for cancer research, solar storms and incidences of rheumatoid arthritis, vulnerabilities in genome’s ‘Dimmer Switches’, new treatments for Alzheimer's, How people make decisions for or against flu vaccinations.

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A team of researchers led by Yu-Hua Tseng, Ph.D., Investigator in the Section on Integrative Physiology and Metabolism at Joslin Diabetes Center and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has created cell lines of human brown and white fat precursor cells that will help investigators to pick apart the factors that drive the development and activity of each type of cell.

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They’re pesky and annoying when they get into your fruit, but Drosophila melanogaster, more affectionately known as the “fruit fly,” have led researchers at Florida Atlantic University to an unexpected discovery involving drowning and comas.

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While it is well-known that weight gain results from an imbalance between what we eat and our energy expenditure, not so obvious is the role the nervous system plays in controlling energy balance. Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shed light on the question.

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Brain tumor stem cells can resist treatment and regrow tumors, but scientists have identified a vulnerability in these cells that could lead to a new approach in battling deadly brain tumors.

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Sonia Rocha-Sanchez, Ph.D., an associate professor of oral biology in the Creighton University School of Dentistry, and an expert in the biology and physiology of the inner ear, has developed a method to temporally modify the expression of the retinoblastoma-1 gene in mice. Modulation of the RB1 gene can allow for the regrowth of cells in the inner ear and potentially restore hearing and balance caused by the loss of sensory hair cells.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: anxiety and fermented foods, glucose transport, research reproducibility, new MRI approach, enterprise transformation, prostate cancer, oceanography, HPV vaccine, probiotics, clinical research.

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The discovery opens the door the potential strategies to treat "iron overload" disorders. Those who get the genetic disorders are most often people of Northern European descent.

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UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have gleaned a key cellular mechanism of how the body adjusts glucose levels, an important process that when abnormal can promote diabetes, cancer, and rare genetic diseases.

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Countering previously held beliefs, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that inhibiting the immune receptor protein TLR4 may not be a wise treatment strategy in all cancers.