Cell Membrane News and Research

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Study reveals structure of E. coli multidrug transporter protein

This new study could potentially help researchers find new ways to avoid the problem of multidrug resistance and enhance the potency of existing drug compounds.

9 May 2006

Inflammation markers identify fatigue in breast cancer survivors

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have defined conditions associated with disabling fatigue that persists for years in almost a third of breast cancer survivors, according to a study in the May 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

3 May 2006

New method found showing how nerve cells can selectively filter and transfer signals

Scientists from Gvttingen and Bochum find evidence for a new mechanism, with which our nerve cells are able to filter signals and transfer them selectively.

28 Apr 2006

Study indicates how drug efficacy can be increased by manipulating the signalling mechanism

Researchers believe they have found a way to change the action of 60 percent of currently available medications, in some cases making them many times more effective, according to an article published in the April 21 edition of the journal Science. The discovery has the potential to improve treatments for diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression and arthritis. The study describes a new way to manipulate perhaps the most important signaling mechanism in human cells: G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs).

28 Apr 2006

Protein made by cancer virus explains how the virus spreads

New research shows that a protein made by a cancer virus causes infected immune cells to cling to other immune cells, enabling the virus to spread.

26 Apr 2006

New technique to speed discovery of drug targets in chemical genetics

Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have developed a new technique to speed discovery of drug targets in chemical genetics. Fox Chase researcher Jeffrey R. Peterson, Ph.D., and his colleagues describe a new way to swiftly find the proteins targeted by small molecule inhibitors during high-throughput screening (HTS) experiments. The new work offers a critical solution to a common stumbling block in this booming field of drug discovery.

26 Apr 2006

New methods for revealing nerve-muscle activity in live animals

Picking up a pencil, running a marathon, even the simple act of breathing - every time we move a muscle we depend on a series of finely-tuned interactions at the junction of nerve fiber and muscle cell.

20 Apr 2006

Novel virus entry mechanism could lead to new drugs against poxviruses

Scientists working with Vaccinia virus, the smallpox vaccine, have discovered a novel mechanism that allows poxviruses to enter cells and cause infection.

13 Apr 2006

Salmonella bacteria use new mechanism known as the riboswitch to adjust magnesium levels

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have added a gene in the bacterium Salmonella to the short list of genes regulated by a new mechanism known as the riboswitch.

11 Apr 2006

Newly discovered testosterone effect may act on prostate cancer

A newly-discovered mode of action of testosterone is showing great promise in the fight against prostate cancer, with tests showing a 60% reduction in tumor size in mice.

6 Apr 2006

Researchers identify potential targets for more effective analgesic drugs with potentially fewer side effects

Studying mice, pain researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified two key components in the pain cascade that may provide targets for more effective analgesic drugs with potentially fewer side effects

6 Apr 2006

Real-time molecule-by-molecule "movie" of protein production in live cells

Chemists at Harvard University have developed the first technique providing a real-time, molecule-by-molecule "movie" of protein production in live cells.

19 Mar 2006

Smoking interferes with the brain's ability to recover from the effects of chronic alcohol abuse

"This study suggests that for better brain recovery, it may be beneficial for alcoholics in early abstinence to stop smoking as well," concludes Dieter Meyerhoff, Dr.rer.nat., a radiology researcher at SFVAMC and the senior author of the study. Meyerhoff is also a professor of radiology at the University of California, San Francisco.

19 Mar 2006

New approach to preventing recurrent febrile seizures in vulnerable children

It's one of those unavoidable facts of life - kids get sick and have fevers. Usually, those elevated internal temperatures cause only temporary discomfort, but in some small children they spark convulsions called "febrile seizures."

13 Mar 2006

Menthol discovery could point towards new pain therapies

This new understanding could lead to potential advances in pain therapy, the researchers said. Moreover, the scientists envision that their method may be potentially useful in studying the activation mechanism of other drugs and proteins.

13 Mar 2006

Spinocerebellar ataxia and other neurodegenerative diseases might be treatable with drugs that alter the activity of potassium channels

For the first time, researchers have linked mutations in a gene that regulates how potassium enters cells to a neurodegenerative disease and to another disorder that causes mental retardation and coordination problems.

27 Feb 2006

New mechanism that regulates K-Ras - protein that plays an important role in cancer

Researchers have discovered a protein widely known to cause the out-of-control growth of cells can actually be manipulated to induce those cells to commit suicide, providing a novel target for the development of anti-cancer drugs, according to the results of a new study led by New York University School of Medicine researchers.

21 Feb 2006

Intracellular observation of RNA metabolism will help identify disease-associated RNAs

For the first time, researchers can now peer inside intact cells to not only identify RNA-binding proteins, but also observe-in real-time-the intricate activities of these special molecules that make them key players in managing some of the cell's most basic functions.

7 Feb 2006

Evidence that the eye has complementary brain-signaling systems at work

A new retinal photoreceptor adjusts its sensitivity in different lighting conditions, according to scientists at Brown University, where the rare eye cells were discovered.

6 Jan 2006

Molecular finding will help better understand measles and mumps

A team of Northwestern University researchers has solved the structure of a molecule that controls the ability of viruses of the paramyxovirus family, including the viruses that cause measles, mumps, and many human respiratory diseases, to fuse with and infect human cells.

5 Jan 2006