Cell Division News and Research

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Researchers identify cells that cause nervous system disease

Two teams of University of Michigan researchers have tracked down the cells responsible for neurofibromatosis type1, a disfiguring, incurable condition and one of the most common hereditary disorders.

4 Feb 2008

Neurogenesis plays an important role in the acquisition and storage of spatial memory

Boosted by physical and mental exercise, neural stem cells continue to sprout new neurons throughout life, but the exact function of these newcomers has been the topic of much debate.

4 Feb 2008

Researchers unravel mystery of cell division

Experts in mitosis (cell division) at the University of Virginia Health System have made discoveries that explain how one protein the kinase Aurora B could have such a large role in guiding and policing the process of cell division.

25 Jan 2008

Protein that controls hair growth also keeps stem cells slumbering

Like fine china and crystal, which tend to be used sparingly, stem cells divide infrequently.

25 Jan 2008

Synthesis of natural molecule could lead to better anti-cancer drugs

In early 2007, Northwestern University chemist Karl Scheidt's interest was piqued when marine chemist Amy Wright reported in the Journal of Natural Products that a new natural compound derived from an uncommon deep-sea sponge was extremely effective at inhibiting cancer cell growth.

24 Jan 2008

New anticancer drugs may block HSP90-IP6K2 protein interaction involved in cell death

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a previously unsuspected mechanism of cell death that may afford a new way to find and develop stronger yet less-harmful anticancer drugs.

23 Jan 2008

German Research Foundation skeptical on cloning of human cells

According to a paper published in the journal Stem Cells, an American group has succeeded in inserting cell nuclei from human skin cells into human enucleated oocytes and to stimulate these new cells to undergo cell division in the laboratory.

23 Jan 2008

Cell division studies hint at future cancer therapy

When a cell's assets get divided between daughter cells, Dr. Quansheng Du wants to make sure both offspring do well.

23 Jan 2008

High blood pressure gene found

Scientists have identified the gene that sets off a sequence of events in the blood vessels of otherwise healthy adults that can lead to high blood pressure.

11 Jan 2008

Asf1, the protein that oversees DNA replication and packaging in the cell

At the Institut Curie, the CNRS team of Genevieve Almouzni has just discovered how the protein Asf1 ensures the correct (re)organization of duplicated DNA. During DNA replication, all the information in the mother cell must be transmitted to the daughter cells.

11 Jan 2008

New insight into factors that drive muscle-building stem cells

A report in the January issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press, provides new evidence explaining how stem cells known as satellite cells contribute to building muscles up in response to exercise.

9 Jan 2008

Discovery of 480 genes that control human cell division

A team of U.S., Israeli and German scientists used computational biology techniques to discover 480 genes that play a role in human cell division and to identify more than 100 of those genes that have an abnormal pattern of activation in cancer cells.

8 Jan 2008

Differentiation blocked in tumor stem cells

A new comparison of normal stem cells and cancer stem cells reveals that the cancer stem cells are abnormally trapped at an early stage of development.

8 Jan 2008

Copy number variation may stem from replication misstep

Genome rearrangements, resulting in variations in the numbers of copies of genes, occur when the cellular process that copies DNA during cell division stalls and then switches to a different genetic "template," said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report that appears today in the journal Cell.

28 Dec 2007

Scientists identifiy elusive telomere RNA subunit in single cell model

The Stowers Institute's Baumann Lab has identified the long-sought telomerase RNA gene in a single-cell research model.

28 Dec 2007

How molecular muscles help cells divide

Time-lapse videos and computer simulations provide the first concrete molecular explanation of how a cell flexes tiny muscle-like structures to pinch itself into two daughter cells at the end of each cell division, according to a report in Science Express.

17 Dec 2007