Membrane News and Research

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Novel sensor selectively screens single molecules passing through nanopores

A novel type of sensor, based on nanometer-scale pores in a semiconductor membrane, is a step closer to practical use in applications such as analyzing the protein contents of a single cell. Researchers pioneering single-molecule nanopore sensor technology at the Technische Universit-t M-nchen (TUM) have shown its potential through a succession of experiments over the past few years.

16 Mar 2012

Patients with early stage MPM may be eligible for aggressive multi-modality therapy

Patients with early stage malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), a cancer that develops in the lining of the lungs, may be eligible for aggressive multi-modality therapy involving surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

16 Mar 2012

CUMC scientists develop a way to recreate personalized immune mouse

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) scientists have developed a way to recreate an individual's immune system in a mouse. The "personalized immune mouse" offers researchers an unprecedented tool for individualized analysis of abnormalities that contribute to type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases, starting at the onset of disease.

15 Mar 2012

Study identifies 190 proteins crucial to the functions of key immune sensors

In a healthy immune system, invading pathogens trigger a cascade of alerts and responses to fight off the infection. Sensors called toll-like receptors, or TLRs, act as one of the first lines of defense. Two of these sensors, known as TLR7 and TLR9, specifically recognize and respond to microbial RNA and DNA, respectively. But what determines how these TLRs get where they need to be and sound the alarm for pathogen infection?

15 Mar 2012

Researchers observe membrane repair in real-time in a living organism

Every cell is enclosed by a thin double layer of lipids that separates the distinct internal environment of the cell from the extracellular space. Damage to this lipid bilayer, also referred to as plasma membrane, disturbs the cellular functions and may lead to the death of the cell. For example, downhill walking tears many little holes into the plasma membranes of the muscle cells in our legs.

15 Mar 2012

Potential new way to treat rare inherited metabolic disorders

A University of Michigan cell biologist and his colleagues have identified a potential drug that speeds up trash removal from the cell's recycling center, the lysosome.

14 Mar 2012

New research could provide roadmap for more effective drug discovery for CF

A recent study led by Gergely Lukacs, a professor at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physiology, and published in the January issue of Cell, has shown that restoring normal function to the mutant gene product responsible for cystic fibrosis (CF) requires correcting two distinct structural defects. This finding could point to more effective therapeutic strategies for CF in the future.

12 Mar 2012

Epidemic bacteria can damage mucins to enter and infect a body part

Boston, MA- Scientists from the Schepens Eye Research Institute, a subsidiary of Mass. Eye and Ear and affiliate of Harvard Medical School, have found for the first time that a bacterial pathogen can literally mow down protective molecules, known as mucins, on mucus membranes to enter and infect a part of the body.

12 Mar 2012

Unknown 'root' extension in hair cells of the inner ear

The hair cells of the inner ear have a previously unknown "root" extension that may allow them to communicate with nerve cells and the brain to regulate sensitivity to sound vibrations and head position, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have discovered. Their finding is reported online in advance of print in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

10 Mar 2012

Queen's receives NICH&S grant to create vaccine against Pseudomonas

Queen's University Belfast scientists working on a vaccine to combat Pseudomonas have received a financial boost from Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke.

8 Mar 2012

somo•v Platinum Automated Breast Ultrasound system to be showcased at NCBC conference

U-Systems, the leader in automated breast ultrasound, today announced it will showcase the recently introduced somo•v Platinum, an update to the somo•v® Automated Breast Ultrasound (ABUS) system, at the 22nd Annual National Interdisciplinary Breast Center Conference of the National Consortium of Breast Centers (NCBC).

6 Mar 2012

Promising results from initial trial of new ultrasonic breast cancer screening

Scientists have successfully completed an initial trial of a new, potentially more reliable, technique for screening breast cancer using ultrasound. The team at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK's National Measurement Institute, working with the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, are now looking to develop the technique into a clinical device.

3 Mar 2012

Ion channels assembled in different combinations distinguish temperatures

The winter sun feels welcome, but not so a summer sunburn. Research over the past 20 years has shown that proteins on the surface of nerve cells enable the body to sense several different temperatures. Now scientists have discovered how just a few of these proteins, called ion channels, distinguish perhaps dozens of discrete temperatures, from mildly warm to very hot.

3 Mar 2012

Desflurane may be safer anesthetic option for patients with AD

In a study that will appear in Annals of Neurology and has received early online release, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report that administration of isoflurane impaired the performance of mice on a standard test of learning and memory - a result not seen when another anesthetic, desflurane, was administered.

2 Mar 2012

Researchers confirm how food poisoning bacteria hijack cell's sense of direction

Working in the emerging field of systems biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers mathematically predicted how bacteria that cause food poisoning hijack a cell's sense of direction and then confirmed those predictions in living cells.

2 Mar 2012

U-M summit to focus on shortage of medical technologies for children

The University of Michigan is hosting the three-day summit that will focus attention on the widespread shortage of medical technologies to help sick children.

From Medtronic 1 Mar 2012

Researchers observe how cholera decimates competing bacteria and human cells

Bacteria live in a state of perpetual warfare, with different species battling for dominion over their competitors and when pathogen, over their infected host. New research suggests that the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae, which causes the disease cholera, kills off its microbial rivals by jabbing them with a spring-loaded poison dagger.

1 Mar 2012

UVA, Johns Hopkins receive NIH grant to develop methods against glioblastoma

The most common primary brain cancer is glioblastoma, a highly aggressive and deadly form of tumor that kills about 95 percent of its victims within five years of diagnosis. Like other brain cancers, it is extremely difficult to treat because glioblastomas are usually deeply embedded within healthy brain tissue and therefore nearly impossible to safely access. Chemotherapy drugs cannot reach these tumors because a membrane between the bloodstream and brain tissue, called the blood-brain barrier, blocks them.

29 Feb 2012

CNRS/Inserm researchers discover new family of anti-cancer compounds

A French-Italian team headed by researchers from CNRS and Inserm has discovered a new family of compounds that could make it possible to treat numerous cancers, particularly brain tumors and skin cancers.

28 Feb 2012

Chemically altered osteoporosis drug may fight malaria

A chemically altered osteoporosis drug may be useful in fighting malaria, researchers report in a new study. Unlike similar compounds tested against other parasitic protozoa, the drug readily crosses into the red blood cells of malaria-infected mice and kills the malaria parasite. The drug works at very low concentrations with no observed toxicity to the mouse.

27 Feb 2012