Cell Membrane News and Research

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Improved cell therapy for cartilage repair

Artificially cultured cartilage cells, grown outside of the body for reparing damaged tissue, prove to be different from original cartilage tissue.

2 Dec 2006

Watching a tumor cell migrate

Using a microfluidics device designed to reproduce the physical microenvironment of small blood vessels and the spaces between cells, researchers at the National University of Singapore have imaged single tumor cells deforming as they migrate through the device.

20 Nov 2006

Self-assembling nanoparticle releases drug into cell cytoplasm

A growing body of research leaves no doubt that nanoparticles can transport drugs into cancer cells, but what is less clear is that the drug payload can exit the tiny endosomes that pull nanoparticles into cells.

30 Oct 2006

Otoferlin, defective in a human deafness form, is essential for exocytosis at the auditory ribbon synapse

By studying a gene earlier linked to deafness in humans, researchers now have new insight into the molecular process by which components of the inner ear send messages to the brain.

20 Oct 2006

New Purdue biochip may speed drug development

Purdue University researchers have developed a biochip that measures the electrical activities of cells and is capable of obtaining 60 times more data in just one reading than is possible with current technology.

20 Oct 2006

Membrane targeted chemotherapy with hybrid liposomes for colon tumor cells leading to apoptosis

One of the unusual properties of tumor cells is that their cell membranes are more fluid and less rigid than those of normal cells.

16 Oct 2006

Phase separation of lipid membranes analyzed with high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry

Understanding the chemical composition and organization of cell membranes - what components reside next to each other, how many of each there are and how they respond to their environment - may reveal the secret lives of cells in both health and disease.

9 Oct 2006

New understanding of how cells defend themselves

Biologists at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) have unveiled a new twist in a metabolic pathway that cells use to defend themselves against toxins made by disease-causing bacteria.

21 Sep 2006

p120 catenin protein can stop metastasis or promote it

A protein known to be a key component of the glue that holds cells together also is involved in breaking them apart and promoting their movement when tumors begin to spread to other parts of the body, researchers at Mayo Clinic have found.

20 Sep 2006

Cisplatin nanoliposomes for cancer therapy

Cisplatin is one of the most powerful and effective drugs for treating a wide variety of cancers, but many tumors develop resistance to this drug, ultimately limiting its benefits for cancer patients.

19 Sep 2006

Targeted magnetic nanoparticles may be useful in both detecting and treating metastatic breast cancer

An in-depth study of nanoparticle distribution in tumor-bearing mice has shown that targeted magnetic nanoparticles accumulate and cluster in both primary breast tumors and metastatic lesions that have developed in the lung.

21 Aug 2006

Researchers find precise location where an antibody binds to the West Nile virus

Researchers have learned the precise location where an antibody binds to the West Nile virus, and they have suggested a mechanism for how this antibody neutralizes the virus to prevent infection.

14 Aug 2006

New tool to study protein kinase A - linked to heart failure

Scientists studying heart cells have devised a new way to visualize and quantify the rise and fall in the activity of a key enzyme linked to heart failure.

8 Aug 2006

Researchers discover one of the malaria parasite's sneakiest tricks

Researchers have discovered one of the malaria parasite's sneakiest tricks--using dead liver cells to cloak and transport itself back into the bloodstream after leaving the liver.

4 Aug 2006

Diblock copolymer micellar nanoparticles decorated with annexin-A5 proteins

One of the banes of modern cancer therapy is that clinicians and patients must often wait months before they can tell if a given treatment is working.

17 Jul 2006

Functionalized carbon nanotubes are non-cytotoxic and preserve the functionality of primary immune cells

Various types of carbon-based nanomaterials, such as buckyballs and nanotubes, have shown promise as drug delivery tools and imaging agents, but reports of toxicity associated with some of these materials have raised questions about their ultimate utility in clinical oncology.

10 Jul 2006

Proteolytic activity monitored by fluorescence resonance energy transfer through quantum-dot-peptide conjugates

Using a synthetic peptide modeled after the protein that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) uses to enter cells, a multi-institutional research team has created quantum dots that can penetrate the cell membrane and image internal structures in a cell.