Cellular Biology News and Research

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How your brain grows might come down to how your cells divide

In the April 6 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology (JCB), Lake and Sokol report that mouse protein Vangl2 controls the asymmetrical cell division and developmental fate of progenitor neurons.

30 Mar 2009

Possible new way to stop cancer from spreading

Based on research that reveals new insight into mechanisms that allow invasive tumor cells to move, researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have a new understanding about how to stop cancer from spreading.

30 Mar 2009

Researchers discover and manipulate molecular interplay that moves cancer cells

29 Mar 2009

DNA repair mechanisms relocate in response to stress

Like doctors making house calls, some DNA repair enzymes can relocate to the part of the cell that needs their help, a collaborative team of scientists at Emory University School of Medicine has found.

29 Mar 2009

Researchers decipher blood stem cell attachment, communication

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have deciphered a key sequence of events governing whether the stem cells that produce red and white blood cells remain anchored to the bone marrow, or migrate into the circulatory system.

25 Mar 2009

Discovery of new molecular mechanism for the processing of endocannabinoids

Dale Deutsch, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University and colleagues discovered a new molecular mechanism for the processing of endocannabinoids, brain compounds similar to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and essential in physiological processes such as pain, appetite, and memory.

24 Mar 2009

New insights may help HIV and cancer patients

Important progress in understanding the function of tetherin, known to have both anti-cancer and anti-viral properties, has been made by researchers at the University of Bristol.

24 Mar 2009

Time (and PPAR-beta/delta) heals all wounds

Mammalian skin requires constant maintenance, but how do skin cells know when to proliferate and at what rate?

23 Mar 2009

Belfast gets new cancer centre

Belfast joins a unique chain of Cancer Research UK Centres that are being launched across the UK.

23 Mar 2009

Human adult testes cells can become embryonic-like

Using what they say is a relatively simple method, scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have extracted stem/progenitor cells from testes and have converted them back into pluripotent embryonic-like stem cells.

23 Mar 2009

Discovery of cellular process that fights type 1 herpes simplex

Scientists have discovered a new way for our immune system to combat the elusive virus responsible for cold sores: Type 1 herpes simplex (HSV-1).

23 Mar 2009

Protein called Shp2 is key to embryonic stem cell differentiation

Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have learned that a protein called Shp2 plays a critical role in the pathways that control decisions for differentiation or self-renewal in both human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs).

20 Mar 2009

Epigenetic mark guides stem cells toward their destiny

Not all stem cells are completely blank slates. Some, known as adult stem cells, have already partially embraced their fates, and are capable of becoming only cells of a particular type of tissue.

20 Mar 2009

Epigenetic mark guides stem cells toward their destiny

Not all stem cells are completely blank slates. Some, known as adult stem cells, have already partially embraced their fates and are capable of becoming only cells of a particular type of tissue. So how do these tissue-specific stem cells restrict their fate?

19 Mar 2009

Alzheimer's mechanism suggests combination therapy needed

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have discovered a mode of action for mysterious but diagnostic protein snarls found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients that suggests a one-two punch of therapy may be needed to combat the neurodegenerative disease.

17 Mar 2009

Cellular discovery may lead to targeted treatment for rare form of anemia

University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have identified the specific biological mechanisms believed to lead to a rare and incurable blood disease known as Diamond Blackfan anemia (DBA).

15 Mar 2009

New investigational therapy for the treatment of bladder cancer

A team of researchers, led by Columbia University Medical Center faculty, has identified a new investigational therapy for the treatment of bladder cancer.

12 Mar 2009

Measuring the strength needed to move chromosomes

It's about as long as the width of a human hair and only half that length across. So it's tiny - measured in millionths of a meter - and extremely tricky to manipulate. But the meiotic spindle plays so irresistibly important a role in separating our chromosomes during cell division that scientists are compelled to try to study it.

11 Mar 2009

Small molecules block cancer gene

Finding molecules that block the activity of the oncogene Stat 3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription) required screening literally millions of compounds, using computers that compared the structure of the cancer-causing gene to those of the small molecules, said a Baylor College of Medicine researcher in a report that appears in the current online issue of the journal PLoS One (Public Library of Science ONE).

11 Mar 2009

Bottom up assembly of cells into 3-D microtissues

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory can now control how cells connect with one another in vitro and assemble themselves into three-dimensional, multicellular microtissues.

5 Mar 2009