Breaking news on Biology and Biochemistry
Device Provides A Platform For Viewing Cancer Cells And Other Macromolecules In Dynamic, Life-Sustaining Liquid Environments published
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PST
A photograph of a polar bear in captivity, no matter how sharp the resolution, can never reveal as much about behavior as footage of that polar bear in its natural habitat. The behavior of cells and molecules can prove even more elusive...
Chaos In The Cell's Command Center published
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST
A defective operating system is never a good thing. Like computers, our cells depend on operating systems to drive normal functions. Gene expression programs comprise the software code our cells rely on, with each cell type controlled by its own program. Corrupted programs can trigger disease...
Scientists Transform Skin Cells Direct To Brain Cells, Bypassing Stem Cell Stage published
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PST
Bypassing the stem cell stage, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California converted mouse skin cells directly into neural precursor cells, the cells that go on to form the three main types of cell in the brain and nervous system. They write about their findings in the 30 January early online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...
Metabolic Errors Affect DNA published
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:00:00 PST
Cells rely on purines, which are types of molecules that make up half of the DNA and RNA building blocks, and are a key component of the chemicals that store a cell's energy in order to perform many vital functions. The purine supply is strictly controlled by the cells, with any disruption likely to cause serious potential consequences...
Stress-Induced Genomic Instability Facilitates Rapid Cellular Adaption In Yeast published
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST
Cells trying to keep pace with constantly changing environmental conditions need to strike a fine balance between maintaining their genomic integrity and allowing enough genetic flexibility to adapt to inhospitable conditions...
Study Finds Mysterious Protein's Entwined Arm Movements May Control Fate Of Potentially Toxic Payload published
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
Like a magician employing sleight of hand, the protein mitoNEET - a mysterious but important player in diabetes, cancer and aging - draws the eye with a flurry of movement in one location while the subtle, more crucial action takes place somewhere else...
Discovery Of Rotational Motion Of Cells That Plays A Critical Role In Their Normal Development Has Major Implications For Breast Cancer Research published
Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
In a study that holds major implications for breast cancer research as well as basic cell biology, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered a rotational motion that plays a critical role in the ability of breast cells to form the spherical structures in the mammary gland known as acini...
One Of Life's Molecular Mysteries Mapped By Scientists published
Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
All living organisms are made up of cells, behind these intricate life forms lie complex cellular processes that allow our bodies to function. Researchers working on protein secretion - a fundamental process in biology - have revealed how protein channels in the membrane are activated by special signals contained in proteins destined for secretion...
3D Study Of Vitamins May Help Combat Malaria published
Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:00:00 PST
A three-dimensional study of how enzymes in the malaria parasite Plasmodium synthesize essential vitamins, could help develop new drugs to combat the disease. Using electron microscopy, a team of scientists from Germany and the UK studied how the enzymes synthesize Vitamin B6, which has already been proposed as a target for new drugs...
Viruses That Con Bacteria With Helping Hand published
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:00:00 PST
Scientists studying ocean microorganisms have encountered something they have never seen before. A marine virus that cons certain photosynthetic bacteria into letting it come inside because it appears to offer a "helping hand" by bringing resources very like their own to help them acquire phosphorus, a nutrient they are desperately short of...
Solving The Mystery Of Membrane Fusion published
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
The many factors that contribute to how cells communicate and function at the most basic level are still not fully understood, but researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have uncovered a mechanism that helps explain how intracellular membranes fuse, and in the process, created a new physiological membrane fusion model. The findings appear in the current edition of the journal PLoS Biology...
Study Of Plant Hormone Could Have Far-Reaching Implications For Cell Biology And Disease Research published
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST
A recent Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) study published in the journal Science investigating the molecular structure and function of an essential plant hormone could profoundly change our understanding of a key cell process, and might ultimately lead to the development of new drugs for a variety of diseases...
How Cells Dispose Of Their Waste published
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
Defective proteins that are not disposed of by the body can cause diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biochemistry recently succeeded in revealing the structure of the cellular protein degradation machinery (26S proteasome) by combining different methods of structural biology...
New Discoveries In Cell Aging published
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
A group of researchers led by the Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB) and Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) can now quantify with precision the effect of protein aggregation on cell aging processes using Escherichia coli bacteria and the molecule which triggers Alzheimer's disease as models. Scientists demonstrated that the effect can be predicted before it occurs...
Tumors Continue Growing Even When Cells Get Old published
Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:00:00 PST
Based on the knowledge that cancer cells grow indefinitely, the general belief is that senescence could act as a barrier against tumor growth and has the potential of being used as a cancer treatment...
Novel Approach To View Inner Workings Of Viruses published
Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
Since the discovery of the microscope, scientists have tried to visualize smaller and smaller structures to provide insights into the inner workings of human cells, bacteria and viruses...
Energy-Saving Chaperon Hsp90: Large Conformational Changes Without ATP Consummation published
Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
A special group of proteins, the so-called chaperons, helps other proteins to obtain their correct conformation. Until now scientists supposed that hydrolyzing ATP provides the energy for the large conformational changes of chaperon Hsp90...
Scientists Isolate Hormone That Triggers Health Benefits Of Exercise published
Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
An international team of scientists has isolated a natural hormone or chemical messenger in muscle cells that triggers some of the important health benefits of exercise. They have named it "irisin", after the Greek messenger goddess, and believe it is a promising candidate for developing drugs to treat diabetes, obesity and maybe even cancer...
Deodorant Preservative Found In Breast Tissue From Cancer Patients published
Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
A new study led by the University of Reading in the UK that examined breast tissue samples from 40 women who underwent mastectomies for breast cancer, found they contained widespread traces of parabens, preservatives commonly used in deodorants, make-up, body lotions, moisturisers and many other cosmetic products...
Tissue Made In The Lab Picks Up The Slack Of Petri Dishes In Cancer Research published
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST
New research demonstrates that previous models used to examine cancer may not be complex enough to accurately mimic the true cancer environment...
Update On The Waste-Disposal Units Of Living Cells published
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:00:00 PST
Important new information on one of the most critical protein machines in living cells has been reported by a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley...
Reduction In Animal Experiments Thanks To Nanosensors published
Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:00:00 PST
Experiments on animals have been the subject of criticism for decades, but there is no prospect of a move away from them any time soon. The number of tests involving laboratory animals has in fact gone up. Now, researchers have found an alternative approach: they hope sensor nanoparticles will reduce the need for animal testing...
Study Finds Fit Females Make More Daughters, Mighty Males Get Grandsons published
Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:00:00 PST
Females influence the gender of their offspring so they inherit either their mother's or grandfather's qualities. 'High-quality' females - those which produce more offspring - are more likely to have daughters. Weaker females, whose own fathers were stronger and more successful, produce more sons...
Researcher Nears Creation Of Superlens published
Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:00:00 PST
A superlens would let you see a virus in a drop of blood and open the door to better and cheaper electronics. It might, says Durdu Guney, make ultra-high-resolution microscopes as commonplace as cameras in our cell phones. No one has yet made a superlens, also known as a perfect lens, though people are trying...
Ideal New Anti-Malaria Target Revealed In Parasite Protein Structure published
Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
Scientists have cracked the structure of a protein that is vital to the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the one that causes the most deadly form of malaria. They suggest the protein, a key enzyme in the generation of cell membranes, could be an ideal target for anti-malaria drugs, particularly as the protein is not present in humans...
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