Feature Channels: Cell Biology

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The development of a new organism from the joining of two single cells is a carefully orchestrated endeavor. But even before sperm meets egg, an equally elaborate set of choreographed steps must occur to ensure successful sexual reproduction. Those steps, known as reproductive cell division or meiosis, split the original number of chromosomes in half so that offspring will inherit half their genetic material from one parent and half from the other.

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A new comprehensive analysis of thyroid cancer from The Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network has identified markers of aggressive tumors, which could allow for better targeting of appropriate treatments to individual patients.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a way to decrease deadly protein deposits in the heart, kidney and other organs associated with a group of human diseases called the systemic amyloid diseases.

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UNC researchers discover a subpopulation of melanoma cancer cells in blood vessels of tumors. These cells, which mimic non-cancerous endothelial cells that normally populate blood vessels, could provide researchers with another target for cancer therapies.

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The excessive activity of repair cells in the early stages of tissue recovery sets the stage for fibrosis by priming the activation of an important growth factor, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology.

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While megakaryocytes are best known for producing platelets that heal wounds, these “mega” cells found in bone marrow also play a critical role in regulating stem cells according to new research from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. In fact, hematopoietic stem cells differentiate to generate megakaryocytes in bone marrow. The Stowers study is the first to show that hematopoietic stem cells (the parent cells) can be directly controlled by their own progeny (megakaryocytes).

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Scientists at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have made a surprising finding about the aggregates of misfolded cellular proteins that have been linked to aging-related disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. The researchers report their results in the October 16, 2014 online issue of the journal Cell.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have identified the long-sought activating molecules for a rare but crucial subset of immune system cells that help rally other white blood cells to fight infection.

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The proteins that drive DNA replication—the force behind cellular growth and reproduction—are some of the most complex machines on Earth. The multistep replication process involves hundreds of atomic-scale moving parts that rapidly interact and transform. Mapping that dense molecular machinery is one of the most promising and challenging frontiers in medicine and biology.

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Scientists reveal crucial steps and surprising structures in the genesis of the enzyme that divides the DNA double helix during cell replication

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Study finds the role of Tbx5 is essential in regulating development of cells in the heart.

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A Mount Sinai-led research team has discovered a new kind of stem cell that can become either a liver cell or a cell that lines liver blood vessels, according to a study published today in the journal Stem Cell Reports.

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By studying a protein called beta-1,3-glucan recognition protein in the blood of a caterpillar, researchers have found a genetic mechanism that may help trigger an insect's immune system into killing pathogens in the insect's blood.

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Scientists at the IRCM and the University of Montreal discovered a mechanism that promotes the progression of medulloblastoma, the most common brain tumour found in children. The team, led by Frédéric Charron, PhD, found that a protein known as Sonic Hedgehog induces DNA damage, which causes the cancer to develop.

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Cornell University researchers have uncovered details of how the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) enters host cells, and offer possible new avenues for treatment.

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Using a recently developed biomarker of aging known as an epigenetic clock, UCLA researchers working closely with a German team of investigators have found for the first time that obesity greatly accelerates aging of the liver.

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Like a marching band falling out of step, muscle cells fail to perform in unison in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Researchers reveal how this breakdown leads to the proliferation of stiff fibrotic tissue within muscles.

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Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center report that the FGF21 hormone may be a reliable predictor of altered fructose metabolism and provide the basis for a "fructose tolerance test."

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UI researchers have found a gene in a soil amoeba that can overcompensate for the specific mutations of a similar gene. In humans, those genetic mutations can often lead to tumor growth. Researchers are now looking for a separate human gene that could overcompensate for mutations in the same way.

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Researchers have developed a technique to jump-start the body's systems for creating blood vessels, opening the door for potential new treatments for diseases whose impacts include amputation and blindness.

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Using X-rays and neutron beams, a team of researchers have revealed the inner workings of a master switch that regulates basic cellular functions, but that also, when mutated, contributes to cancer, cardiovascular disease and other deadly disorders.

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UNC researchers discovered that one gene-regulating protein called Bre1 must be maintained in the proper amount for other epigenetic players to do their jobs properly. It’s a key coordinator in the sort of cellular scenes that can turn a healthy cell into a cancer cell.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have created a synthetic molecule that mimics “good” cholesterol and have shown it can reduce plaque buildup in the arteries of animal models. The molecule, taken orally, improved cholesterol in just two weeks.

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Using X-rays and neutron beams, a team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, University of Utah and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have teased out new information about Protein Kinase A, a ubiquitous master switch that helps regulate fundamental cellular functions like energy consumption and interactions with hormones, neurotransmitters and drugs.

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The surprising discovery of a previously unidentified class of lipid molecules that enhance insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control offers a promising new avenue for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.

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Using an innovative algorithm that analyzes gene regulatory and signaling networks, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have found that loss of a gene called KLHL9 is the driving force behind the most aggressive form of glioblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer.

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Heart attack survivors often experience dangerous heart rhythm disturbances during treatment designed to restore blood flow to the injured heart muscle, a common and confounding complication of an otherwise lifesaving intervention. Now a duo of Johns Hopkins researchers working with rat heart cells have shown that such post-heart attack arrhythmias are likely triggered by something akin to a power grid failure inside the injured cardiac cells.

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It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. Scientists searching for the gene or gene combination that affects even one plant or animal characteristic must sort through massive amounts of data, according to associate professor Xijin Ge of the mathematics and statistics department at South Dakota State University. He leads a bioinformatics research group, which provides the expertise that plant and animal scientists need to uncover how genes and proteins affect cell functions. Just one experiment to analyze gene expression can produce one terabyte of sequence data, Ge explained. “That’s a little beyond many biologists' comfort zone.”

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Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found an “Achilles heel” in a metabolic pathway crucial to stopping the growth of lung cancer cells.

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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a microRNA molecule as a surprisingly crucial player in managing cell survival and growth. The findings underscore the emerging recognition that non-coding RNAs help regulate basic cellular processes and may be key to developing new drugs and therapies.

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Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that T-cells – a type of white blood cell that learns to recognize and attack microbial pathogens – are activated by a pain receptor.

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Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from breast cancer patients were isolated from blood and grown in the laboratory for extensive genetic analysis. Such analysis enabled the identification of the most effective cancer drug or drug combination for each patient's tumor -- a significant step towards "precision" cancer treatment.

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Researchers led by Colorado State University uncovered more than 167,000 kinds of bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes in the soil beneath one of the nation's iconic urban environments. That’s 260 times as many species of birds, plants and invertebrates that live in the Park - combined.

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The discovery of a gene mutation that causes a rare premature aging disease could lead to the development of drugs that block the rapid, unstoppable cell division that makes cancer so deadly

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Salk scientists find that a vitamin D-derivative makes tumors vulnerable to chemotherapy.

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Scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus have shown that the brain can temporarily disconnect information about past experience from decision-making circuits, thereby triggering random behavior.

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Cells rely on the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway—which senses the availability of nutrients—to coordinate their growth with existing environmental conditions. The lab of Whitehead Member David Sabatini has identified a family of proteins that negatively regulate the branch upstream of mTORC1 that senses amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have described how a single family of antibodies that broadly neutralizes different strains of HIV has evolved remarkably diverse structures to attack a vulnerable site on the virus. The findings provide clues for the design of a future HIV vaccine.

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It’s the first day of autumn, and the telltale signs are here: crisp weather, pumpkin spice lattes and, most importantly, the leaves are changing colors. Ever wonder why some leaves turn red, others yellow and some just turn brown? We’ll tell you all about the chemistry behind this seasonal spectacle in the latest Reactions episode.

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A novel study by the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) found that an increase in a gene known as Leo1 affects other genes that are directly implicated in acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML), increasing the incidence of cancer.

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Scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found that cancer cells traveling to other sites have different energy needs from their “stay-at-home” siblings which continue to proliferate at the original tumor site.

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Understanding just how sugar makes its way into the cell could lead to the design of better drugs for diabetes patients and an increase in the amount of fruits and vegetables farmers are able to grow. Stanford University researchers have recently uncovered one of these "pathways" into the cell by piecing together proteins slightly wider than the diameter of a strand of spider silk.

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The switch controls the growth of telomeres, the timekeepers of cells.

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No matter how many times it’s demonstrated, it’s still hard to envision bacteria as social, communicating creatures. But by using a signaling system called “quorum sensing,” these single-celled organisms radically alter their behavior to suit their population. Helen Blackwell, a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been making artificial compounds that mimic the natural quorum-sensing signals.

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NYU Langone Medical Center scientists have found a way to boost dramatically the efficiency of the process for turning adult cells into so-called pluripotent stem cells by combining three well-known compounds, including vitamin C.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have devised a new antibiotic based on vancomycin that is powerfully effective against vancomycin-resistant strains of MRSA and other disease-causing bacteria.

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Investigating a protein known to influence human glucose levels, scientists found that this factor has a broader reach than first thought, acting on key gene pathways involved in cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric, and cancer-related diseases.

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Deploying sophisticated high-throughput sequencing technology, dubbed ψ-seq, a team of Whitehead Institute and Broad Institute researchers collaborated on a comprehensive, high-resolution mapping of ψ sites that confirms pseudouridylation, the most common post-transcriptional modification, does indeed occur naturally in mRNA.

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Heat shock proteins protect the molecules in all human and animal cells with factors that regulate their production and work as thermostats. In new research published Sept. 16 in the journal eLife, scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center and elsewhere report for the first time that a protein called translation elongation factor eEF1A1 orchestrates the entire process of the heart shock response.

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Leaky intestines may cripple bacteria-fighting immune cells in patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), a rare hereditary disease. The study may explain why these patients suffer from recurrent bacterial infections.