Cell Membrane News and Research

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Hacking 'drug trafficking' system could increase effectiveness of diabetes treatment

Making tiny changes to existing diabetes treatments can alter how they interact with cells, and potentially make the medicines more effective.

23 Apr 2018

Glucose metabolism is key to neural network development, finds study

A new study has found that glucose metabolism is critical for the development of neural networks in the brain.

13 Apr 2018

Research reveals how bacteria prepare sticky adhesion protein

Researchers at Harvard Medical School, the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Georgia have described how the protein that allows strep and staph bacteria to stick to human cells is prepared and packaged.

6 Apr 2018

New discovery may offer insight into treating sickle cell anemia and other blood disorders

Discovery by Scripps Research scientists may offer insight into treating blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia.

4 Apr 2018

Research pinpoints potential weak link in bacterial wall-building protein

The wall that surrounds bacteria to shield them from external assaults has long been a tantalizing target for drug therapies. Indeed, some of modern medicine's most reliable antibiotics disarm harmful bacteria by disrupting the proteins that build their protective armor.

28 Mar 2018

Researchers uncover link between Parkinson’s disease mutations and plaque formation in the brain

Working with lab-grown human brain cells, Johns Hopkins researchers report they have uncovered a much sought-after connection between one of the most common genetic mutations in Parkinson's disease and the formation of fatty plaques in the brain thought to contribute to the destruction of motor neurons that characterize the disease.

15 Mar 2018

Extracellular vesicles may serve as drug delivery vehicles for cancer treatment

Creating enough nanovesicles to inexpensively serve as a drug delivery system may be as simple as putting the cells through a sieve, according to an international team of researchers who used mouse autologous -- their own -- immune cells to create large amounts of fillable nanovesicles to deliver drugs to tumors in mice.

13 Mar 2018

Modifying Oncolytic Adenoviruses to Target Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the less common but deadliest cancers. Modified oncolytic adenoviruses represent an alternative to chemotherapy and targeted therapies, which have a high mortality rate.

9 Mar 2018

New class of antimicrobial polymers can kill five hard-to-treat multidrug-resistant bacteria

An international research team led by the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research and IBM Research developed a synthetic molecule that can kill five deadly types of multidrug-resistant bacteria with limited, if any, side effects.

7 Mar 2018

MIPT biophysicists study structure and interaction of nanofibrous scaffold with cardiac cells

Biophysicists from MIPT have studied the structure of a nanofibrous scaffold, as well as its interaction with rat cardiac cells.

2 Mar 2018

Receptors crucial for establishing strong memories

When we create a memory, a pattern of connections forms between neurons in the brain. New work from UC Davis shows how these connections can be strengthened or weakened at a molecular level. The study is published Feb. 27 in the journal Cell Reports.

27 Feb 2018

Researchers develop first analytical method to evaluate new cyanide and mustard gas antidote

To develop antidotes for chemical agents, such as cyanide and mustard gas, scientists need analytical methods that track not only the level of exposure but also how the drug counteracts the effects of the chemical.

24 Feb 2018

Researchers demonstrate novel process to produce cell-sized lipid vesicles

A team of researchers at the University of California in Irvine, California has demonstrated a novel process to produce cell-sized lipid vesicles (CLVs) from microfluidically generated double emulsion templates by investigating the interfacial parameters that control double emulsion stability for storage, and their subsequent dewetting to form multisomes or GUVs (subsets of CLVs).

24 Feb 2018

Stiffness of cancer cell plasma membrane affects uptake of nanomedicines

Nanomedicines need to get taken up by diseased cells in order to release their cargo. Cancer cells have altered membrane properties, which hamper their ability to take up nanomedicines.

23 Feb 2018

Researchers discover potential new antimalarial treatment targets

Researchers have discovered crucial new processes that allow malaria parasites to escape red blood cells and infect other cells, offering potential new treatment targets.

20 Feb 2018

Researchers uncover Ras protein's role in uncontrolled cancer growth

Protein systems, such as Ras, make up the complex signaling pathways that control whether a cell divides or, in some cases, becomes cancerous and metastasizes into other regions of the body. For example, 98 percent of pancreatic cancers show Ras protein mutations.

19 Feb 2018

Nature paper unveils bacterial division

The process that allows bacteria to divide is crucial for their survival and a good target for the development of new antibiotics.

16 Feb 2018

Producing Super-Swelled Lyotropic Monocrystals for Drug Development

An interview with Dr. Cecília Leal, about a new method for producing bicontinuous cubic phases that are super-swollen and exist as monocrystals in solution.

15 Feb 2018

Cell membrane nanofragments can act as nucleation sites for mineralization during bone formation

The burst of cells forming cartilage is associated with mineralization during the early stages of bone formation, and nanofragments of the cell membranes can act as nucleation sites for amorphous calcium phosphate, as reported in two studies just published in Integrative Biology and ASC Biomaterials Science and Engineering.

14 Feb 2018

Scientists develop ultrasound-propelled nanomotors for active delivery of Cas9-sgRNA complex

In cancer research, the “Cas-9–sgRNA” complex is an effective genomic editing tool, but its delivery across the cell membrane to the target (tumor) genome has not yet been satisfactorily solved. American and Danish scientists have now developed an active nanomotor for the efficient transport, delivery, and release of this gene scissoring system.

9 Feb 2018