Feature Channels: Cell Biology

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26-Jan-2015 5:55 PM EST
New Study Sheds Light on Cancer Stem Cell Regulation
Sanford Burnham Prebys

Researchers identify signaling molecules in intestinal stem cells that can lead to tumors if left unregulated. The findings suggest a new approach to targeting intestinal cancers.

Released: 4-Feb-2015 4:10 PM EST
Compound Found In Grapes, Red Wine May Help Prevent Memory Loss
Texas A&M University

A compound found in common foods such as red grapes and peanuts may help prevent age-related decline in memory, according to new research published by a faculty member in the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.

   
Released: 3-Feb-2015 7:00 PM EST
Study Offers New Look at Complex Head and Neck Tumor Behavior
Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital

Head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) ranks among the top ten most prevalent cancers in the United States. Despite its prevalence, little is known about how this cancer develops and spreads. However, in a paper published in the January 29, 2015 edition of Nature, researchers offer critical new information about head and neck cancers.

Released: 3-Feb-2015 2:00 PM EST
Scientists Discover a Key Pathway That Protects Cells Against Death by Stress
Scripps Research Institute

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have uncovered the workings of cell-protection device, one that may play a major role in a number of age-related diseases, including diabetes and Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases.

Released: 29-Jan-2015 3:00 PM EST
Structure of World’s Largest Single Cell IsReflected at the Molecular Level
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Daniel Chitwood, Ph.D., assistant member, used the world’s largest single-celled organism, an aquatic alga called Caulerpa taxifolia, to study the nature of structure and form in plants. It was recently reported the results of their work in the online journal, PLOS Genetics.

Released: 28-Jan-2015 3:00 PM EST
X-Ray Study Reveals Division of Labor in Cell Health Protein
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers working in part at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have discovered that a key protein for cell health, which has recently been linked to diabetes, cancer and other diseases, can multitask by having two identical protein parts divide labor.

Released: 27-Jan-2015 6:00 PM EST
Cell Mechanism Discovered That May Cause Pancreatic Cancer
University of Utah Health

Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah have found that defects in how cells are squeezed out of overcrowded tissue to die, a process called extrusion, may be a mechanism by which pancreatic cancer begins. From these findings, they may have identified an effective way to reverse the defective extrusion’s effects without destroying normal tissues nearby. The results were published in the latest edition of the journal eLife.

26-Jan-2015 1:00 PM EST
Scientists Establish that Drug Candidates Can Block Pathway Associated with Cell Death in Parkinson’s Disease
Scripps Research Institute

In a pair of related studies, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shown their drug candidates can target biological pathways involved in the destruction of brain cells in Parkinson's disease.

   
Released: 26-Jan-2015 11:50 AM EST
UK Researchers Solve Metabolic Mystery Lending Insight Into Lafora Disease
University of Kentucky

Researchers at the University of Kentucky have unlocked the metabolic function of the essential enzyme laforin, which opens new pathways to treating the deadly Lafora's Disease.

26-Jan-2015 9:00 AM EST
Scientists Identify New Mechanism to Aid Cells Under Stress
New York University

A team of biologists has identified new details in a cellular mechanism that serves as a defense against stress. The findings potentially offer insights into tumor progression and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s — the cell’s inability to respond to stress is a major cause of these diseases.

21-Jan-2015 1:00 PM EST
Cells Take Sole Responsibility for Merkel Cell Maintenance
The Rockefeller University Press

Researchers have identified a population of “progenitor” cells in the skin that are solely responsible for the generation and maintenance of touch-sensing Merkel cells.

Released: 22-Jan-2015 2:30 PM EST
Penn Study Uncovers Secrets of a Clump-Dissolving Protein
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Workhorse molecules called heat-shock proteins contribute to refolding proteins that were once misfolded and clumped, causing such disorders as Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease. Researchers have been developing ways to "reprogram" one such protein – a yeast protein called Hsp104 -- to improve its therapeutic properties.

Released: 22-Jan-2015 12:00 PM EST
Trust Your Gut: E. coli May Hold One of the Keys to Treating Parkinson's
University of Michigan

E. coli usually brings to mind food poisoning and beach closures, but researchers recently discovered a protein in E. coli that inhibits the accumulation of potentially toxic amyloids—a hallmark of diseases such as Parkinson's.

20-Jan-2015 2:30 PM EST
Enzymes Believed to Promote Cancer Actually Suppress Tumors
UC San Diego Health

Upending decades-old dogma, a team of scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say enzymes long categorized as promoting cancer are, in fact, tumor suppressors and that current clinical efforts to develop inhibitor-based drugs should instead focus on restoring the enzymes’ activities.

Released: 21-Jan-2015 11:00 AM EST
New Cancer-Fighting Strategy Would Harden Cells To Prevent Metastasis
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Existing cancer therapies are geared toward massacring tumor cells, but Johns Hopkins researchers propose a different strategy: subtly hardening cancer cells to prevent them from invading new areas of the body. They devised a way of screening compounds for the desired effect and have identified a compound that shows promise in fighting pancreatic cancer.

13-Jan-2015 1:00 PM EST
M6P Deficiency Leaves B Cells Out of Sorts
The Rockefeller University Press

A group of white blood cells known as B cells, which play a key role in the human immune response, need a protein-targeting signal called M6P in order to proliferate, differentiate, and present immune cell–activating antigens.

Released: 18-Jan-2015 8:00 PM EST
Defining Adhesion Clusters
National University of Singapore (NUS)

Scientists at the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered the molecular mechanisms responsible for the formation of the adherens junction at the nanoscale level. This research is published in Developmental Cell (Wu et al., Actin-delimited adhesion-independent clustering of E-cadherin forms the nanoscale building blocks of adherens junctions, Developmental Cell, 16 Jan 2015, doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2014.12.003).

Released: 16-Jan-2015 8:30 AM EST
New Trick Found for How Cells Stay Organized
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Organization is key to an efficient workplace, and cells are no exception to this rule. New evidence from Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that, in addition to membranes, cells have another way to keep their contents and activities separate: with ribbons of spinning proteins.

Released: 15-Jan-2015 3:00 PM EST
Bone Stem Cells Shown to Regenerate Bone and Cartilage in Adult Mice
Columbia University Irving Medical Center

A stem cell capable of regenerating both bone and cartilage has been identified in bone marrow of mice.

Released: 15-Jan-2015 12:00 PM EST
New Research Unlocks How Melanoma Can Resist Newly Approved Drug Combo Therapy
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences

In a new study researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have uncovered how melanoma becomes resistant to a promising new drug combo therapy utilizing BRAF+MEK inhibitors in patients after an initial period of tumor shrinkage.

Released: 14-Jan-2015 12:00 PM EST
Coenzyme A Plays Leading Role in Nitric Oxide Function So Essential to Cell Metabolism
Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve and University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center researchers and physicians have discovered that the molecule known as coenzyme A plays a key role in cell metabolism by regulating the actions of nitric oxide. Their findings appeared in the Dec. 15 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Released: 13-Jan-2015 6:00 PM EST
Possible Treatments Identified for Highly Contagious Stomach Virus
Washington University in St. Louis

Antibiotics aren’t supposed to be effective against viruses. But new evidence in mice suggests antibiotics may help fight norovirus, a highly contagious gastrointestinal virus, report scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

8-Jan-2015 12:50 PM EST
Sound Mind, Strong Heart: Same Protein Sustains Both
Johns Hopkins Medicine

A Roman philosopher was the first to note the relationship between a sound mind and a sound body. Now the findings of a new Johns Hopkins study reveal a possible biochemical explanation behind this ancient observation.

7-Jan-2015 1:00 PM EST
TSRI Scientists Illuminate Mysterious Molecular Mechanism Powering Cells in Most Forms of Life
Scripps Research Institute

A team led by structural biologists at The Scripps Research Institute has taken a big step toward understanding the intricate molecular mechanism of a metabolic enzyme— nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase—produced in most forms of life on Earth.

6-Jan-2015 2:00 PM EST
Hacking Fat Cells’ Metabolism Does Not Affect Insulin Resistance
Johns Hopkins Medicine

In the race to find a safe and effective weight loss drug, much attention has focused on the chemical processes that store and use energy. But a new mouse study from Johns Hopkins suggests that tweaking these processes, even in a targeted way that affects only fat cells, may not yield a silver-bullet obesity cure.

Released: 7-Jan-2015 1:10 PM EST
“Seeing” Hydrogen Atoms to Unveil Enzyme Catalysis
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A multi-institutional research team led by Chris Dealwis from Case Western Reserve University has used the new IMAGINE instrument at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor to map an enzyme that could play an important role in anti-cancer drug development.

6-Jan-2015 3:00 PM EST
Scientists Identify First Nutrient Sensor in Key Growth-Regulating Metabolic Pathway
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Whitehead Institute scientists have for the first time identified a protein that appears to be a nutrient sensor for the key growth-regulating mTORC1 metabolic pathway.

Released: 6-Jan-2015 4:25 PM EST
Targeting Fatty Acids May Be Treatment Strategy for Arthritis, Leukemia
Washington University in St. Louis

Enzymes linked to diabetes and obesity appear to play key roles in arthritis and leukemia, potentially opening up new avenues for treating these diverse diseases, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Released: 6-Jan-2015 9:45 AM EST
When DNA Gets Sent to Time-Out
Johns Hopkins Medicine

For a skin cell to do its job, it must turn on a completely different set of genes than a liver cell — and keep genes it doesn’t need switched off. One way of turning off large groups of genes at once is to send them to “time-out” at the edge of the nucleus. New research shows how DNA gets sent to the nucleus’ far edge, a process critical to controlling genes and determining cell fate.

Released: 5-Jan-2015 3:00 PM EST
How Bacteria Control Their Size
Washington University in St. Louis

New work shows that bacteria (and probably other cells as well) don’t double in mass before dividing. Instead they add a constant volume (or mass) no matter what their initial size. A small cell adds the same volume as a large cell. By following this rule a cell population quickly converges on a common size.

Released: 5-Jan-2015 12:00 PM EST
Scientists Develop Pioneering Method to Define Stages of Stem Cell Reprogramming
UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research

UCLA researchers have for the first time developed a method that defines many stages of reprogramming skin or blood cells into pluripotent stem cells. Study analyzed the reprogramming process at the single-cell level on a daily basis. Results determined that stages of cell change were the same across different reprogramming systems and cell types analyzed.

Released: 4-Jan-2015 11:00 PM EST
Fructose More Toxic than Table Sugar in Mice
University of Utah

When University of Utah biologists fed mice sugar in doses proportional to what many people eat, the fructose-glucose mixture found in high-fructose corn syrup was more toxic than sucrose or table sugar, reducing both the reproduction and lifespan of female rodents.

29-Dec-2014 12:00 PM EST
Fat Isn’t All Bad: Skin Adipocytes Help Protect Against Infections
UC San Diego Health

When it comes to skin infections, a healthy and robust immune response may depend greatly upon what lies beneath. In a new paper published in the January 2, 2015 issue of Science, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report the surprising discovery that fat cells below the skin help protect us from bacteria.

29-Dec-2014 2:00 AM EST
Defying Textbook Science, Study Finds New Role for Proteins
University of Utah Health

Results from a study published on Jan. 2 in Science defy textbook science, showing for the first time that the building blocks of a protein, called amino acids, can be assembled without blueprints – DNA and an intermediate template called messenger RNA (mRNA). A team of researchers has observed a case in which another protein specifies which amino acids are added.

30-Dec-2014 3:15 PM EST
'Bad Luck' of Random Mutations Plays Predominant Role in Cancer, Study Shows
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Scientists from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have created a statistical model that measures the proportion of cancer incidence, across many tissue types, caused mainly by random mutations that occur when stem cells divide. By their measure, two-thirds of adult cancer incidence across tissues can be explained primarily by “bad luck,” when these random mutations occur in genes that can drive cancer growth, while the remaining third are due to environmental factors and inherited genes.

Released: 29-Dec-2014 9:00 AM EST
Enzyme's Alter Ego Helps Activate the Immune System
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Already known to cut proteins, the enzyme SPPL3 turns out to have additional talents, according to a new study from Johns Hopkins. In its newly discovered role, SPPL3 works without cutting proteins to activate T cells, the immune system’s foot soldiers. Because its structure is similar to that of presenilin enzymes, which have been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, the researchers believe their findings could shed more light on presenilin functions, in addition to providing new insight into how the immune system is controlled.

22-Dec-2014 9:55 AM EST
Locking Mechanism Found for 'Scissors' that Cut DNA
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered what keeps an enzyme from becoming overzealous in its clipping of DNA. Since controlled clipping is required for the production of specialized immune system proteins, an understanding of what keeps the enzyme in check should help explain why its mutant forms can lead to immunodeficiency and cancer.

Released: 16-Dec-2014 5:00 PM EST
Microbiome May Have Shaped Early Human Populations
Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt mathematician Glenn Webb and NYU microbiologist Martin Blaser propose that the microbes which live on our bodies may have influenced the age structure of human populations in prehistoric times.

Released: 16-Dec-2014 12:00 PM EST
Amount of Mitochondrial DNA Predicts Frailty and Mortality
Johns Hopkins Medicine

New research from The Johns Hopkins University suggests that the amount of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) found in peoples’ blood directly relates to how frail they are medically. This DNA may prove to be a useful predictor of overall risk of frailty and death from any cause 10 to 15 years before symptoms appear.

   
Released: 15-Dec-2014 8:00 AM EST
Signaling Mechanism Could Be Target for Survival, Growth of Tumor Cells in Brain Cancer
UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern Medical Center neurology researchers have identified an important cell signaling mechanism that plays an important role in brain cancer and may provide a new therapeutic target.

   
Released: 12-Dec-2014 3:00 PM EST
New Theory Suggests Alternate Path Led to Rise of the Eukaryotic Cell
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Known as the “inside-out” theory of eukaryotic cell evolution, an alternative view of how complex life came to be was published recently in the open access journal BMC Biology.

Released: 11-Dec-2014 3:00 PM EST
New Studies Power Legacy of UW-Madison Research, 60 Years Later
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Dave Pagliarini, a UW-Madison assistant professor of biochemistry, recently published two studies shedding more light on coenzyme Q and how it’s made, one in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) in October and another today in Molecular Cell.

Released: 8-Dec-2014 5:00 PM EST
Turning Biological Cells to Stone Improves Cancer and Stem Cell Research
Sandia National Laboratories

Near-perfect replications of human and animal cells enables improved study of certain cancers and stem cells, as well as the creation of complex durable objects without machinery.

5-Dec-2014 3:30 PM EST
Heat-Shock Protein Enables Tumor Evolution and Drug Resistance in Breast Cancer
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Long known for its ability to help organisms successfully adapt to environmentally stressful conditions, the highly conserved molecular chaperone heat-shock protein 90 (HSP90) also enables estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancers to develop resistance to hormonal therapy.

5-Dec-2014 4:45 PM EST
See T-Cells Kill Cancer, Proteins Spin in Space, and Cells Heal their Wounds as ASCB’s Celldance Releases Three Eye-Popping Microscopic Video Blockbusters
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Three “Tell Your Own Cell Story” videos commissioned by Celldance Studios, a.k.a. the ASCB’s Public Information Committee premiere online from the 2014 ASCB/IFCB meeting in Philadelphia on Monday, December 8. All three are streamable and downloadable. www.ascb.org/celldance-2014

24-Nov-2014 8:00 AM EST
An Unholy Alliance—Colon Cancer Cells in situ Co-Opt Fibroblasts in Surrounding Tissue to Break Out
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

In work to be presented at the ASCB/IFCB meeting in Philadelphia, researchers from the Institut Curie in Paris report that they have evidence of a coordinated attack on the basement membrane of human colon cells by cancer cells in situ and CAF cells in the extracellular matrix that begins long before the actual translocation of cancer cells.

25-Nov-2014 8:00 AM EST
Blood Brain Barrier on a Chip Could Stand in for Children in Pediatric Brain Research
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Now bioengineering researchers at Temple University in Philadelphia have come up with an experimental workaround—a synthetic pediatric blood-brain barrier on a small chip—and have tested it successfully using rat brain endothelial cells (RBECs) from rat pups and human endothelial cells.

25-Nov-2014 8:00 AM EST
Screening for Matrix Effect in Leukemia Subtypes Could Sharpen Chemotherapy Targeting
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

Jae-Won Shin and David Mooney of Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering in Cambridge, MA, describe building a three-dimensional (3D) hydrogel system with tunable stiffness to see how relative stiffness of the surrounding ECM affected the resistance of human myeloid leukemias to chemotherapeutic drugs.

25-Nov-2014 10:00 AM EST
Rescuing the Golgi Puts Brakes on Alzheimer’s Progress
American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)

The even more surprising answer was that rescuing the Golgi reduced Aβ accumulation significantly, apparently by re-opening a normal protein degradation pathway for the amyloid precursor protein (APP).



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