Feature Channels: Cell Biology

Filters close
Released: 16-Mar-2015 4:05 PM EDT
Scientists Find DNA Is Packaged Like a Yoyo
Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

To pack two meters of DNA into a microscopic cell, the string of genetic information must be wound extremely carefully into chromosomes. Surprisingly the DNA’s sequence causes it to be coiled and uncoiled much like a yoyo, scientists reported in Cell.

11-Mar-2015 12:50 PM EDT
Molecular Ruler Sets Bacterial Needle Length
University of Utah

University of Utah biologists report how a disposable molecular ruler or tape measure determines the length of needles bacteria use to infect cells. The findings have potential applications for new antibiotics and anticancer drugs and for helping people how to design nanomachines.

Released: 16-Mar-2015 1:05 PM EDT
Scripps Florida Scientists Confirm Key Targets of New Anti-Cancer Drug Candidates
Scripps Research Institute

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have confirmed the ribosome assembly process as a potentially fertile new target for anti-cancer drugs by detailing the essential function of a key component in the assembly process.

   
Released: 16-Mar-2015 11:05 AM EDT
FSU Departments Collaborate to Identify 'Master Regulator' in Cell Division
Florida State University

Three years after discovering that a single, unidentified mechanism was modifying about 800 proteins simultaneously during cell division, Florida State University researchers have identified that mystery enzyme.

Released: 16-Mar-2015 9:05 AM EDT
Researchers Find 'Affinity Switch' for Proteasome Assembly Process in Cells
Kansas State University

Researchers conducted a study that looked at how proteasome-specific chaperones work at the molecular level to help in proteasome formation. Fully understanding this process may present new target sites for drugs and may lead to better treatments for neurological diseases, cancers and other disorders.

11-Mar-2015 12:05 PM EDT
How NORE1A Acts as a Barrier to Tumor Growth
The Rockefeller University Press

Researchers reveal how cells protect themselves from a protein that is a key driver of cancer.

Released: 13-Mar-2015 11:05 AM EDT
Chitin, a Structural Molecule Associated with Allergy Response in Mammals is Identified in Vertebrates
Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason

Scientists at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) have made an unexpected discovery that overturns a longstanding belief in the biological sciences. The research demonstrates that chitin, a molecule that was previously thought to be absent in vertebrates and that has been shown to trigger an allergy/immune reaction in mammals, is endogenously produced in fishes and amphibians.

9-Mar-2015 2:00 PM EDT
Scientists Use X-Ray Vision to Probe Early Stages of DNA 'Photocopying'
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Scientists have created a 3-D model of a complex protein machine, ORC, which helps prepare DNA to be duplicated. Like an image of a criminal suspect, the intricate model of ORC has helped build a “profile” of the activities of this crucial “protein of interest.” But the new information has uncovered another mystery: ORC’s structure reveals that it is not always “on” as was previously thought, and no one knows how it turns on and off.

Released: 11-Mar-2015 11:05 AM EDT
New 2-Color X-ray Laser Technique Could Reveal Atomic Detail of Medically Important Proteins
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

A unique X-ray laser innovation developed at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory may make it easier and faster for scientists to fully map medically important proteins whose structures have remained stubbornly out of reach.

Released: 10-Mar-2015 11:05 AM EDT
Johns Hopkins Researchers Engineer Custom Blood Cells
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have successfully corrected a genetic error in stem cells from patients with sickle cell disease, and then used those cells to grow mature red blood cells, they report. The study represents an important step toward more effectively treating certain patients with sickle cell disease who need frequent blood transfusions and currently have few options.

9-Mar-2015 7:05 PM EDT
TSRI Scientists Show that Proteins Critical In Day-Night Cycles Also Protect Cells from Mutations
Scripps Research Institute

New research from The Scripps Research Institute shows that two proteins critical for maintaining healthy day-night cycles also protect against mutations that could lead to cancer.

9-Mar-2015 3:05 PM EDT
Cellular Scissors Chop Up HIV Virus
Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Salk scientists re-engineered the bacterial defense system CRISPR to recognize HIV inside human cells and destroy the virus, offering a potential new therapy.

Released: 9-Mar-2015 3:05 PM EDT
TSRI Scientists Reveal Structural Secrets of Nature’s Little Locomotive
Scripps Research Institute

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has determined the basic structural organization of a molecular motor that hauls cargoes and performs other critical functions within cells.

   
6-Mar-2015 2:05 PM EST
Go Meta: New Technique Expands Possibilities for Molecular Designers
Scripps Research Institute

Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a broadly useful technique for building new drug molecules and other chemical products.

   
9-Mar-2015 12:00 PM EDT
Hippo ‘Crosstalk’ May Be Vital to Tumor Suppression
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered new information about a key pathway known as Hippo, a metaphoric name referencing its link to tissue “overgrowth.” The Hippo pathway has been shown to regulate cell death and cell growth, thus playing a role in the development or prevention of tumors.

5-Mar-2015 9:05 AM EST
Popular Antioxidant Likely Ineffective, Study Finds
McGill University

The popular dietary supplement ubiquinone, also known as Coenzyme Q10, is widely believed to function as an antioxidant, protecting cells against damage from free radicals. But a new study by scientists at McGill University finds that ubiquinone is not a crucial antioxidant.

Released: 4-Mar-2015 12:05 PM EST
Cell Powerhouse Sequencing Technology Provides Deeper Look at Inherited Disease Risk
Mount Sinai Health System

A new sequencing technique may provide a clearer picture of how genes in mitochondria, the “powerhouses” that turn sugar into energy in human cells.

Released: 3-Mar-2015 2:05 PM EST
Vanderbilt Study Shows Salt Fights Infection
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Researchers at Vanderbilt University and in Germany have found that sodium – salt – accumulates in the skin and tissue in humans and mice to help control infection.

26-Feb-2015 2:05 PM EST
Desmoplakin’s Tail Gets the Message
The Rockefeller University Press

Cells control the adhesion protein desmoplakin by modifying the tail end of the protein, and this process goes awry in some patients with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, according to a new study.

26-Feb-2015 12:05 PM EST
One Step Closer to Defeating Alzheimer's Disease
The Rockefeller University Press

Researchers show that toning down the activity of the receptor TREM2 may help put a stop to neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease.

26-Feb-2015 2:05 PM EST
Sall4 Is Required for DNA Repair in Stem Cells
The Rockefeller University Press

A protein that helps embryonic stem cells retain their identity also promotes DNA repair. The findings raise the possibility that the protein, Sall4, performs a similar role in cancer cells, helping them survive chemotherapy.

26-Feb-2015 8:30 AM EST
New Views of Enzyme Structures Offer Insights Into Metabolism of Cholesterol, Other Lipids
University of Michigan

With the aid of X-ray crystallography, researchers at the University of Michigan have revealed the structures of two closely related enzymes that play essential roles in the body's ability to metabolize excess lipids, including cholesterol.

Released: 27-Feb-2015 5:00 AM EST
First Detailed Microscopy Evidence of Bacteria at the Lower Size Limit of Life
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Scientists have captured the first detailed microscopy images of ultra-small bacteria that are believed to be about as small as life can get. The research was led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley. The existence of ultra-small bacteria has been debated for two decades, but there hasn’t been a comprehensive electron microscopy and DNA-based description of the microbes until now.

25-Feb-2015 5:00 PM EST
New Study Affirms the Role of Specialized Protein in Assuring Normal Cell Development
NYU Langone Health

Scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center and New York University have demonstrated that a specialized DNA-binding protein called CTCF is essential for the precise expression of genes that control the body plan of a developing embryo.

Released: 26-Feb-2015 1:05 PM EST
Altering Perception of Feeding State May Promote Healthy Aging
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Targeting mechanisms in the central nervous system that sense energy generated by nutrients might yield the beneficial effects of low-calorie diets on healthy aging without the need to alter food intake, suggests new research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

20-Feb-2015 12:05 PM EST
New Study Shows Safer Methods for Stem Cell Culturing
Scripps Research Institute

A new study led by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the University of California (UC), San Diego School of Medicine shows that certain stem cell culture methods are associated with increased DNA mutations.

Released: 25-Feb-2015 1:00 PM EST
New Technology Tracks Cell Lineage To Watch Evolution at Work
Stony Brook University

Evolution is change, and not always for the better. Evolution, in fact, is at the core of many of the diseases that are hardest to treat. Pathogens such as bacteria and parasites evade their host’s defenses or antimicrobial drugs through evolution. Cancer itself in an evolutionary process, whereby “rogue” cells evolve to grow beyond their normal barriers, migrate to distant locations in the body, and ultimately evade chemotherapy.

23-Feb-2015 12:15 PM EST
Scientists Find a Key Protein That Allows Plavix to Conquer Platelets
University of North Carolina Health Care System

UNC researchers found that the blood platelet protein Rasa3 is critical to the success of the common anti-platelet drug Plavix, which breaks up blood clots during heart attacks and other arterial diseases. The discovery could prove important for creating drugs to alter platelet function.

Released: 23-Feb-2015 4:00 PM EST
Virginia Tech Researchers Discover Possible Drug Target to Combat Sleeping Sickness
Virginia Tech

Scientists identified a possible way to keep the parasite that transmits sleeping sickness from reproducing, reducing the health dangers to its human hosts.

18-Feb-2015 3:00 PM EST
Study Nearly Triples the Locations in the Human Genome That Harbor MicroRNAs
Thomas Jefferson University

Researchers find many new gene-regulating molecules that are tissue and human specific.

Released: 23-Feb-2015 12:55 PM EST
Molecular Link between Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Reveals Potential Therapy
UC San Diego Health

Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that the inflammatory molecule LTB4 promotes insulin resistance, a first step in developing type 2 diabetes. What’s more, the team found that genetically removing the cell receptor that responds to LTB4, or blocking it with a drug, improves insulin sensitivity in obese mice. The study is published Feb. 23 by Nature Medicine.

18-Feb-2015 10:00 AM EST
Proteins Pull Together as Cells Divide
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Like a surgeon separating conjoined twins, cells have to be careful to get everything just right when they divide in two. Otherwise, the resulting daughter cells could be hobbled, particularly if they end up with too many or two few chromosomes. Successful cell division hangs on the formation of a dip called a cleavage furrow, a process that has remained mysterious. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that no single molecular architect directs the cleavage furrow’s formation; rather, it is a robust structure made of a suite of team players.

19-Feb-2015 12:00 PM EST
Breast Cancer Spread May Be Tied to Cells That Regulate Blood Flow
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Tumors require blood to emerge and spread. That is why scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center believe that targeting blood vessel cells known as pericytes may offer a potential new therapeutic approach when combined with vascular growth factors responsible for cell death.

17-Feb-2015 9:45 AM EST
NIH-Supported Researchers Map Epigenome of More Than 100 Tissue and Cell Types
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

Much like mapping the human genome laid the foundations for understanding the genetic basis of human health, new maps of the human epigenome may further unravel the complex links between DNA and disease. The epigenome is part of the machinery that helps direct how genes are turned off and on in different types of cells.

Released: 17-Feb-2015 1:40 PM EST
MAGE Genes Provide Insight Into Optimizing Chemotherapy, Cancer Researchers Find
UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have identified a new biomarker that could help identify patients who are more likely to respond to certain chemotherapies.

12-Feb-2015 10:00 AM EST
Study Reveals Possible Treatment for Diseases Caused by Mitofusin 2 Deficiency
The Rockefeller University Press

Researchers have discovered a novel role for Mitofusin 2, and the findings may point to a new treatment for patients with diseases caused by loss of the mitochondrial protein.

Released: 13-Feb-2015 10:00 AM EST
Under Pressure
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Just as human relationships are a two-way street, fusion between cells requires two active partners: one to send protrusions into its neighbor, and one to hold its ground and help complete the process. Researchers have now found that one way the receiving cell plays its role is by having a key structural protein come running in response to pressure on the cell membrane, rather than waiting for chemical signals to tell it that it’s needed. The study, which helps open the curtain on a process relevant to muscle formation and regeneration, fertilization, and immune response, appears in the March 9 issue of the journal Developmental Cell.

Released: 12-Feb-2015 4:00 PM EST
The Company You Keep
La Jolla Institute for Immunology

When fighting chronic viral infections or cancers, a key division of the immune system, known as CD8 T cells, sometimes loses its ability to effectively fight foreign invaders. Overcoming so-called T cell exhaustion is crucial to treating persistent infections but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Released: 12-Feb-2015 2:20 PM EST
Scientists Identify Molecular ‘Switch’ that Regulates DNA Replication and Transcription
Rowan University

Researchers at the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine have discovered a molecular ‘switch’ that controls replication and transcription of mitochondria DNA, a key finding that could influence the development of targeted therapies for cancer, developmental processes related to fertility and aging.

6-Feb-2015 1:00 PM EST
Researchers Design “Evolutionary Trap” to Thwart Drug Resistance
Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Using theoretical and experimental approaches, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have developed a two-pronged strategy that uses an evolving cell population’s adaptive nature against it.

9-Feb-2015 12:00 PM EST
Microbes Prevent Malnutrition in Fruit Flies—and Maybe Humans, Too
Scripps Research Institute

A study by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute sheds significant new light on a surprising and critical role that microbes may play in nutritional disorders such as protein malnutrition.

Released: 11-Feb-2015 1:00 PM EST
Early Retina Cell Changes in Glaucoma Identified
UC San Diego Health

To better understand these cellular changes and how they influence the progression and severity of glaucoma, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Shiley Eye Institute turned to a mouse model of the disease. Their study, published Feb. 10 in The Journal of Neuroscience, reveals how some types of retinal ganglion cells alter their structures within seven days of elevated eye pressure, while others do not.

Released: 11-Feb-2015 1:00 PM EST
Research Team Finds How CBD, a Component in Marijuana, Works Within Cells
Stony Brook University

A team of Stony Brook University researchers have identified fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) as intracellular transporters for two ingredients in marijuana, THC and CBD (cannabidiol). The finding, published early online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, is significant because it helps explain how CBD works within the cells. Recent clinical findings have shown that CBD may help reduce seizures and could be a potential new medicine to treat pediatric treatment-resistant epilepsy.

10-Feb-2015 1:40 PM EST
Scientists Take First X-ray Portraits of Living Bacteria at the LCLS
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers working at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have captured the first X-ray portraits of living bacteria. This milestone, reported in the Feb. 11 issue of Nature Communications, is a first step toward possible X-ray explorations of the molecular machinery at work in viral infections, cell division, photosynthesis and other processes that are important to biology, human health and our environment.

Released: 10-Feb-2015 2:45 PM EST
Epigenetic Breakthrough: A First of Its Kind Tool to Study the Histone Code
University of North Carolina Health Care System

UNC scientists have created a new research tool, based on the fruit fly, to help crack the histone code. This research tool can be used to better understand the function of histone proteins, which play critical roles in the regulation of gene expression in animals and plants.

Released: 10-Feb-2015 12:35 PM EST
TSRI Scientists Find New Cellular Pathway Defect in Cystinosis
Scripps Research Institute

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have identified a new cellular pathway affected in cystinosis, a rare genetic disorder that can result in eye and kidney damage. The findings could eventually lead to new drug treatments for reducing or preventing the onset of renal failure in patients.

   
4-Feb-2015 3:00 PM EST
The Princess and the Pea: Cells’ Ultra-Sensitivity for Strong Molecular Forces in Adhesion Processes
Biophysical Society

Knowing how cells exert force and sense mechanical feedback in their microenvironment is crucial to understanding how they activate a wide range of cellular functions, such as cell reproduction, differentiation and adhesion. Now a more fine-grained picture of adhesion mechanics is emerging, thanks to a new tool developed in Illinois in recent years called a "tension gauge tether," which allows scientists to measure cell mechanics at the single-molecule level.

Released: 9-Feb-2015 5:00 PM EST
Researchers Uncover Signal That Switches Cells to Cancerous Metabolism
University of Illinois Chicago

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine report in Nature Communications that an enzyme called MnSOD causes cells, as they become cancerous, to switch from aerobic metabolism — using oxygen to break down sugars for energy — to a type of fermentation called glycolysis, which does not require oxygen.

Released: 9-Feb-2015 4:00 PM EST
Inflammation Application: How Tumor-Causing Cells are Recruited in Cancers Linked to Chronic Inflammatory Diseases
Wistar Institute

Gabrilovich and fellow investigators demonstrated what is happening at a cellular level that allows for chronic inflammation to cause a variety of cancers.

   
2-Feb-2015 2:00 PM EST
Bacteria's Hidden Traffic Control
Biophysical Society

Not unlike an urban restaurant, the success of a bacterial cell depends on three things: localization, localization and localization. But the complete set of controls by which bacteria control the movement of proteins and other essential biological materials globally within the confines of their membrane walls has been something of a mystery. Now, researchers have parsed out the localization mechanisms that E. coli use to sort through and organize their subcellular components.



close
2.62643