Living Cells News and Research

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Study: Early training of cell development and network improves response

When it comes to training neural circuits for tissue engineering or biomedical applications, a new study suggests a key parameter: Train them young.

7 Aug 2020

Disruptions to lipid metabolism after childbirth predict future diabetes risk

Scientists have found that disruptions to the metabolism of lipids occur after childbirth in women with gestational diabetes who go on to develop type 2 diabetes.

4 Aug 2020

Drug discovery pipeline to exploit transcription factors for cancer therapy

Cancer is a leading cause of death and one of the most complex challenges to modern medicine. By employing cutting-edge technologies that precisely measure the effects of candidate targets and drugs on the fundamental process of transcription, the new start-up company QUANTRO Therapeutics strives to radically change the precision and scope of cell-based drug screening.

21 Jul 2020

Researchers visualize DNA G-quadruplex formation in live cells for the first time

The formation of four-stranded DNA has been tracked in living human cells, allowing scientists to see how it works, and its possible role in cancer.

20 Jul 2020

UQ researchers reveal three-dimensional structure of important enzyme

Advanced herbicides and treatments for infection may result from the unravelling of a 50-year-old mystery by University of Queensland researchers.

11 Jul 2020

Researchers create new tool to identify cancer-causing mutations lurking in 98% of the genome

Gene coding regions constitute 2% of the human genome. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have developed a computational tool to identify alterations that drive tumor formation in the remaining 98% of the genome.

6 Jul 2020

UCLA scientists identify new function for histones

UCLA scientists have identified a new function for histones, the spool-shaped proteins that regulate gene expression and serve as anchors for strands of DNA to wrap around.

2 Jul 2020

CityU develops CRISPR-assisted method to identify RNA-binding proteins in living cells

While scientists still don't fully understand the diverse nature of RNA molecules, it is believed that the proteins binding to them, called RNA-binding proteins, are associated with many disease formation.

1 Jul 2020

Study indicates that primitive proteins could have progressed to form living cells

What did the very first proteins – those that appeared on Earth around 3.7 billion years ago – look like? Prof. Dan Tawfik of the Weizmann Institute of Science and Prof. Norman Metanis of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have reconstructed protein sequences that may well resemble those ancestors of modern proteins, and their research suggests a way that these primitive proteins could have progressed to forming living cells.

1 Jul 2020

A novel strategy to achieve site-selective chiral drug synthesis in living systems

Enantioselectivity plays an important role in the pharmacological and toxicological processes of chiral drugs.

26 Jun 2020

Simplified artificial cell brings to light the dynamics of cellular symmetry

Symmetry and asymmetry are fundamental properties of nature. Seen from above, butterflies have left-right symmetry, while male fiddler crabs show dramatic asymmetry.

25 Jun 2020

Far-UVC light can efficiently and safely kill airborne coronaviruses

More than 99.9% of seasonal coronaviruses present in airborne droplets were killed when exposed to a particular wavelength of ultraviolet light that is safe to use around humans, a new study at Columbia University Irving Medical Center has found.

24 Jun 2020

Tomocube holotomography microscopy reveals novel cholesterol membrane transport system in erythrocytes infected with fatal malaria parasite

The first study to elucidate the dynamics of membrane cholesterol transport in erythrocytes has been successfully concluded using holotomography microscopy.

From Tomocube Inc. 24 Jun 2020

Nanosponges attract coronavirus away from lung cells, study shows

Imagine if scientists could stop the coronavirus infection in its tracks simply by diverting its attention away from living lung cells? A new therapeutic countermeasure, announced in a Nano Letters study by researchers from Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories and the University of California San Diego, appears to do just that in experiments that were carried out at the NEIDL in Boston.

18 Jun 2020

Scientists use CRISPR tool to make rapid, precise cuts in genomic material

In a series of experiments using human cancer cell lines, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have successfully used light as a trigger to make precise cuts in genomic material rapidly, using a molecular scalpel known as CRISPR, and observe how specialized cell proteins repair the exact spot where the gene was cut.

18 Jun 2020

A new technology to print 3D tissues directly in the body

In the TV series Westworld, human body parts are built on robotic frames using 3D printers. While still far from this scenario, 3D printers are being increasingly used in medicine.

15 Jun 2020

Stanford researchers test the first biohybrid version of artificial synapse

In 2017, Stanford University researchers presented a new device that mimics the brain's efficient and low-energy neural learning process.

15 Jun 2020

Transforming spleen to liver could bring new hope for patients suffering from organ shortage

Scientists from Nanjing University and University of Macau have transformed the spleen into a functioning liver in living mice, which could bring new hope for patients suffering from organ shortage worldwide.

11 Jun 2020

Anti-RBD antibodies shown to neutralize active SARS-CoV-2

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in June 2020 reports the discovery of multiple severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in samples from healthy donors, collected before the pandemic. These antibodies are capable of inhibiting the binding of the spike protein of the virus to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) molecule and can neutralize active infection of cells in culture.

9 Jun 2020

Using advanced microscopy techniques to see single molecules of telomerase in living cells

Canadian scientists have achieved a first in the study of telomerase, an essential enzyme implicated in aging and cancer.

3 Jun 2020