Feature Channels: Cell Biology

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During embryonic development, the all-important coronary arteries arise from cells previously considered incapable of producing them, according to scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (http://einstein.yu.edu/) of Yeshiva University. The research, carried out in mice and published today in the online edition of the journal Cell, may speed development of regenerative therapies for heart disease.

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Changes in how DNA interacts with histones—the proteins that package DNA—regulate many fundamental cell activities from stem cells maturing into a specific body cell type or blood cells becoming leukemic. These interactions are governed by a biochemical tug of war between repressors and activators, which chemically modify histones signaling them to clamp down tighter on DNA or move aside and allow a gene to be expressed.

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Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered a new mode of action for enzymes immersed in cellular membranes. Their experiments suggest that instead of recognizing and clipping proteins based on sequences of amino acids, these proteases’ location within membranes gives them the unique ability to recognize and cut proteins with unstable structures. And because these and other membrane proteases have roles to play in everything from malaria to Parkinson’s disease, uncovering their “inside” work could have profound implications for human health, the scientists note.

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Thanks to some careful detective work, scientist better understand just how iPS cells form – and why the Yamanaka process is inefficient, an important step to work out for regenerative medicine. The findings uncover cellular impediments to iPS cell development that, if overcome, could dramatically improve the efficiency and speed of iPS cell generation.

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The cancer-causing form of the gene Myc alters the metabolism of mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouse, making it dependent on the amino acid glutamine for survival. Depriving cells of glutamine selectively induces programmed cell death in cells overexpressing mutant Myc. Using Myc-active neuroblastoma cells, a team three priotein executors of the glutamine-starved cell, representing a downstream target at which to aim drugs. Roughly 25 percent of all neuroblastoma cases are associated with Myc-active cells.

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University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers track a gene’s crucial role in orchestrating the placement of neurons in the developing brain. Their findings help unravel some of the mysteries of Joubert syndrome and other neurological disorders.

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A new way to visualize single-cell activity in living zebrafish embryos has allowed scientists to clarify how cells line up in the right place at the right time to receive signals about the next phase of their life.

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New research from the University of North Carolina provides a neurological justification for this therapeutic approach, but researchers caution there could be unanticipated effects.

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Research led by the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project has identified a fusion gene responsible for almost 30 percent of a rare subtype of childhood leukemia with an extremely poor prognosis.

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Fat cells store excess energy and signal these levels to the brain. Deletion of the clock gene Arntl, also known as Bmal1, in fat cells, causes mice to become obese, with a shift in the timing of when this nocturnal species normally eats. These findings shed light on the complex causes of obesity in humans.

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A mother’s willingness to sacrifice her own health and safety for the sake of her children is a common narrative across cultures – and by no means unique to humans alone. Female polar bears starve, dolphin mothers stop sleeping and some spider moms give themselves as lunch for their crawly babies’ first meal.

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Canadian and Italian stem cell researchers have discovered a new “master control gene” for human blood stem cells and found that manipulating its levels could potentially create a way to expand these cells for clinical use.

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Researchers led by Sanjeevi Sivasankar of Iowa State University and the Ames Laboratory are studying how biological cells connect to each other. Problems with cell adhesion can lead to diseases, including cancers and cardiovascular problems.

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Keeping arteries soft and supple might reduce disease risk, but the mechanisms of how arteries stave off hardening has remained elusive. Researchers have discovered that apolipoprotein E plays a major role in maintaining arterial softness by suppressing production of the extracellular matrix, a network of connective tissue.

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Researchers are developing a technique for predicting from a simple blood sample the amount of cathepsins—protein-degrading enzymes known to accelerate certain diseases—a specific person would produce.

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Rensselaer researchers develop tool to detect low levels of sugars produced by living organisms.

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A team of national and international researchers, led by Weill Cornell Medical College scientists, have decoded the key "software" instructions that drive three of the most virulent forms of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). They discovered ALL's "software" is encoded with epigenetic marks, chemical modifications of DNA and surrounding proteins, allowing the research team to identify new potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

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A JCB study shows how a transcription factor called STAT3 remains in the axon of nerve cells to help prevent neurodegeneration. The findings could pave the way for future drug therapies to slow nerve damage in patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

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Growing evidence suggests that there may be a link between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, but the physiological mechanisms by which diabetes impacts brain function and cognition are not fully understood. In a new study published in Aging Cell, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies show, for the first time, that diabetes enhances the development of aging features that may underlie early pathological events in Alzheimer's.

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Researchers at Johns Hopkins have figured out the three-dimensional shape of the protein responsible for creating unique bonds within the cell wall of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. The bonds make the bacteria resistant to currently available drug therapies, contributing to the alarming rise of these super-bacteria throughout the world.

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Powerful antibiotics that scientists and physicians thought stop the growth of harmful bacteria by completely blocking their ability to make proteins actually allow the germs to continue producing certain proteins -- which may help do them in.

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Whitehead Institute researchers report that common assumptions employed in the generation and interpretation of data from global gene expression analyses can lead to seriously flawed conclusions about gene activity and cell behavior in a wide range of current biological research.

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Researchers have discovered an essential mechanism that regulates the flow of calcium into mitochondria.

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A protein that is necessary for lactation in mammals inhibits the critical cellular transition that is an early indicator of breast cancer and metastasis, according to research conducted at the University at Buffalo and Princeton University and highlighted as the cover paper in November issue of Nature Cell Biology.

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Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, the University of South Florida and the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France have studied the patterns and timing of sunlight exposure and how each is related to two nonmelanoma skin cancers – basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.

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Scientists have long believed that glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most aggressive type of primary brain tumor, begins in glial cells that make up supportive tissue in the brain or in neural stem cells. In a paper published October 17 in Science, however, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found that the tumors can originate from other types of differentiated cells in the nervous system, including cortical neurons.

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A new study from Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that the lethal spread of breast cancer is as dependent on a tumor’s protein-rich environment as on genetic changes inside tumor cells.

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A study in The Journal of Cell Biology identifies a motor protein that ferries HIV to the plasma membrane, helping the virus escape from macrophages

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By reprogramming skin cells from Parkinson's disease patients with a known genetic mutation, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified damage to neural stem cells as a powerful player in the disease. The findings, reported online October 17th in Nature, may lead to new ways to diagnose and treat the disease.

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A research team at Weill Cornell Medical College has discovered a way to utilize diagnostic prenatal amniocentesis cells, reprogramming them into abundant and stable endothelial cells capable of regenerating damaged blood vessels and repairing injured organs.

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New research from Mount Sinai School of Medicine sheds light on how overeating can cause a malfunction in brain insulin signaling, and lead to obesity and diabetes. Christoph Buettner, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease) and his research team found that overeating impairs the ability of brain insulin to suppress the breakdown of fat in adipose tissue.

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Salk findings on cold virus proteins may spur new cancer treatments.

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A study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers finds that a starvation hormone markedly extends life span in mice without the need for calorie restriction.

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Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of South Florida; Duke University; Johns Hopkins University; the Brazilian National Cancer Institute; and the Rio de Janeiro Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology have discovered that an intricate system to repair DNA damage called the “DNA damage response” (DDR) contains previously unknown components, including proteins that could be targeted as sensitizers for chemotherapy. Some of these targets may already have drugs available that have unrecognized uses in cancer therapy, said the researchers.

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Challenging the old notion that the function of sleep is to rest the brain, researchers show that not getting enough sleep can harm fat cells, reducing by 30 percent their ability to respond to insulin, a hormone that regulates energy. This is the first description of a molecular mechanism directly connecting sleep loss to the disruption of energy regulation.

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Researchers at the University of Michigan have determined how the hormone leptin, an important regulator of metabolism and body weight, interacts with a key receptor in the brain.

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Dana-Farber researchers have developed a method for determining how ready acute myeloid leukemia cells are to die, a finding that may enable oncologists to choose more effective treatments for their patients.

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Until recently, medical researchers had little hope of manipulating naïve T cells to study their crucial roles in immune function because they were largely impenetrable. Now, researchers have made a master key, able to get into naïve T cells to deliver bio-active cargo such as synthetic molecules.

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A Phase I clinical trial led by investigators from the University of California, San Francisco and sponsored by Stem Cells Inc., showed that neural stem cells successfully engrafted into the brains of patients and appear to have produced myelin.

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New Georgia Tech research shows that cell stiffness could be a valuable clue for doctors as they search for and treat cancerous cells before they’re able to spread. The findings found that highly metastatic ovarian cancer cells are several times softer than less metastatic ovarian cancer cells.

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With a little exercise and dieting, overweight people with type 2 diabetes can still train their fat cells to produce a hormone believed to spur HDL cholesterol production, report medical researchers.

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Just because a lizard can grow back its tail, doesn’t mean it will be exactly the same. A multidisciplinary team of scientists from Arizona State University and the University of Arizona examined the anatomical and microscopic make-up of regenerated lizard tails and discovered that the new tails are quite different from the original ones. The researchers hope their findings will help lead to discoveries of new therapeutic approaches to spinal cord injuries and diseases such as arthritis.

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T regulatory cells in the pancreatic lymph nodes play important role in diabetes onset and recovery of the insulin production in diabetic patients, say Thomas Jefferson University researchers

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Perelman School of Medicine researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have created a map of vision in the brain based upon an individual's brain structure, even for people who cannot see. Their result can, among other things, guide efforts to restore vision using a neural prosthesis that stimulates the surface of the brain.

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Biologists from New York University have uncovered new ways our biological clock’s neurons use electrical activity to help keep behavioral rhythms in order. The findings also point to fresh directions for exploring sleep disorders and related afflictions.

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A University of Adelaide researcher has published results that suggest a possible new mechanism to control multiple sclerosis (MS).

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Global health researchers are working on cheap systems like a home-based pregnancy test that might work for malaria, diabetes or other diseases. A new chemical technique makes medically interesting molecules stick to regular paper -- a possible route to building such paper-based diagnostics from paper you could buy at an office-supply store.

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Modulating immune response to injury could accelerate the regeneration of severed peripheral nerves, a new study in an animal model has found. By altering activity of the macrophage cells that respond to injuries, researchers dramatically increased the rate at which nerve processes re-grew.

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New research from UNC has established a new link between two fundamental epigenetic tags -- histone H3 lysine 9 methylation and DNA methylation -- in humans.

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Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have solved a key part of a muscle regeneration mystery plaguing scientists for years, adding strong support to the theory that muscle mass can be built without a complete, fully functional supply of muscle stem cells.