Cell Biology News and Research

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Discovery of key molecular step which allows cancer cells to move to different parts of the body

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have figured out a key molecular step by which a cancer cell can unhook itself from the mesh weave of other cancer cells in a tumor, and move away to a different part of the body - the process, known as metastasis, that makes cancer so dangerous.

27 Sep 2004

Study is the first to show that lowering the levels of lipid in nerve terminals affects the efficiency of neurotransmission

Yale researchers demonstrate the crucial role of a membrane lipid called phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns (4,5)P2) in the communication of information between synapses in the brain, according to a study published this week in Nature.

26 Sep 2004

Scientists unlock the crucial communication pathways of p53 protein cells

Professor Nicholas La Thangue and his team at the Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow have unlocked the crucial communication pathways of p53 protein cells, which could ultimate aid the slowing down of cells that cause tumours and related disease.

20 Sep 2004

Protein points to anticancer drug targets

A unique tail at one end of a protein called Ubc12 stabilizes a molecular workshop that assembles the “on-switch cells” used to accelerate cell replication.

20 Sep 2004

Research findings may help stave off full-blown diabetes

A new study by researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center sheds light on the key mechanisms by which new pancreatic beta cells normally form in response to insulin resistance. These findings may some day help researchers devise ways of staving off full-blown diabetes.

18 Sep 2004

Potential stem cells treatment for retinitis pigmentosa and other retinal degenerations

A team of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute was able to preserve visual function in mice that were genetically predisposed to developing a profound degenerative disease that destroys their retinas.

16 Sep 2004

Disruption of protein folding causes neurodegeneration, mental retardation

Excess accumulation in brain cells of a fat molecule called GM1-ganglioside (GM1) disrupts the folding of newly assembled proteins into their proper shapes, triggering nerve degeneration and mental retardation in children.

10 Sep 2004

Cancers, including colon, prostate, and leukemia, continue to grow unchecked

Many cancers, including colon, prostate, and leukemia, continue to grow unchecked because they do not respond to a signal to die and stop proliferating from Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGF-b).

8 Sep 2004

Scientists investigate the ability of heart muscle to repair itself

The scientists will investigate the ability of heart muscle to repair itself – after being damaged by a heart attack, for example – and to regain function.

6 Sep 2004

Hair growing stem cells may one day provide treatments for human hair conditions

Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at The Rockefeller University have isolated stem cells from the skin of a mouse, and showed, for the first time, that an individual stem cell can renew itself in the laboratory and then be used in grafts to produce skin, hair and oil glands.

5 Sep 2004

New database about a group of genes associated with multidrug resistance in cancerous tumors

Scientists at the National Cancer Institute, have created a database of information about a group of genes associated with multidrug resistance in cancerous tumors.

23 Aug 2004

Not all good cholesterol helps to protect arteries from becoming clogged with fatty deposits

HDL becomes dysfunctional, Dr. Hazen said, when myeloperoxidase (MPO), an enzyme present in white blood cells, inhibits the HDL's ability to keep LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, from building up in artery walls.

17 Aug 2004

British team and NASA plan to take stem cells into space

The $US1 million project aims to explore ways to protect astronauts from space radiation in preparation for a manned mission to Mars in 2020.

12 Aug 2004

Stanford researchers identify leukemia stem cells

A handful of leukemia cells constantly replenish the supply of cancerous cells, according to new work by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.

11 Aug 2004

IBM and Cellomics offer new solution to accelerate cell-based drug discovery

IBM and Cellomics have announced they have launched a customized information technology (IT) solution that allows biopharmaceutical scientists and academic researchers to better understand how potential drug candidates or targets of interest affect cellular function.

11 Aug 2004

Discovery could revolutionise the way asthma is treated and managed, and possibly lead to an eventual cure

A major discovery by scientists at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research could revolutionise the way asthma is treated and managed, and possibly lead to an eventual cure.

9 Aug 2004

Offical Health and Human Services line on Bush's embryonic stem cell policy

Three years ago, President Bush opened the nation’s laboratory doors for the first time to federal taxpayer funding for human embryonic stem cell research.

9 Aug 2004

Promising new cancer drug, Nanotax

A Lawrence company that uses patented technology created at the University of Kansas to improve the effectiveness of drugs has won a $100,000 National Institutes of Health grant to support further testing of the company's promising new cancer drug, Nanotax.

5 Aug 2004

Transplanted cells are capable of surviving in the brain of immunosuppressed stroked rats

Human neural stem cells proprietary to StemCells, Inc. have been used in a Stanford University study in a preclinical stroke model.

29 Jul 2004

Leptin's fat-burning role in humans

For nearly a decade, scientists have known that leptin plays an important fat-burning role in humans. But the map of leptin's path through the body – the key to understanding how and why the hormone works – is still incomplete.

27 Jul 2004