Cell Division News and Research

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Four key genes govern growth, multiplication of blood stem cells

An important element in getting blood stem cells to multiply outside the body is to understand which of the approximately 20,000 genes in the human body control their growth. Now a research team at Lund University in Sweden has studied close to 15,000 of these genes alongside each other.

22 Mar 2016

Cell biologists identify new way for curing cancer and vessel diseases

Cell biologists from the Lomonosov Moscow State University discovered a new way of regulating of cell motility -- this discovery will make possible development of new drugs for curing onco- and vessel diseases.

22 Mar 2016

Caloric restriction leads to fatale weakening of the immune system

It's already well known that a diet may have a life-extending effect. Researchers from Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute in Jena, Germany, now showed that besides improving the functionality of stem cells in mice, a caloric restriction also leads to a fatale weakening of their immune system - counteracting the life-lengthening effect of a diet.

16 Mar 2016

Experimental drug improves survival rate of majority of lung cancer patients compared to standard chemotherapy

In global clinical trials, patients with advanced metastatic lung cancer who were treated with a targeted immunotherapy drug lived significantly longer and with fewer side effects than those who received standard second-line chemotherapy, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published today in the journal The Lancet.

15 Mar 2016

New drug shows promise against mesothelioma

A new drug is showing promise as a treatment for mesothelioma - one of the most lethal cancers of all.

15 Mar 2016

CNIO researchers find panoramic view of proteins that intervene in a cellular process

Three years ago, the research team directed by Óscar Fernández-Capetillo, head of the Genomic Instability Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, obtained, for the first time, a panoramic view of the proteins that intervene in one of the most important and delicate cellular processes: the copying of genetic material during cellular division. They observed that the parts of the genome where the DNA was copied were also very rich in the modification by some very particular proteins, SUMOylations, and poor in others, ubiquitinations, but they were unable to understand why.

8 Mar 2016

Healthy aging brings unexpected benefits to pancreatic beta cell function, insulin production

New research shows that a cellular program that causes aging can also bring unexpected benefits in the function of pancreatic beta cells and the production of insulin in mice and humans.

8 Mar 2016

Researchers identify how Zika virus may cause microcephaly in fetuses

Working with lab-grown human stem cells, a team of researchers suspect they have discovered how the Zika virus probably causes microcephaly in fetuses. The virus selectively infects cells that form the brain's cortex, or outer layer, making them more likely to die and less likely to divide normally and make new brain cells.

7 Mar 2016

Inhibition of mitochondrial calcium uptake specifically toxic to cancer cells

Inhibiting the transfer of calcium ions into the cell's powerhouse is specifically toxic to cancer cells, according to an article published this week in Cell Reports by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

4 Mar 2016

New anti-ageing therapy may be effective against aplastic anaemia

Aplastic anaemia is a rare, and potentially fatal, disease of the blood, by which the bone marrow is unable to generate blood cells at the appropriate pace. Many forms of aplastic anaemia share an important link with the ageing process: the shortening of telomeres, structures that protect the ends of chromosomes.

25 Feb 2016

Researchers reveal how stress conditions favor lytic reactivation of herpesviruses

Hiding their DNA genome inside the nucleus of the infected cells, the herpesviruses establish a lifelong infection in humans. Not well defined stress conditions are known to wake up these parasites from their dormancy - the latent phase - and reactivate the production of new viral progeny, eventually causing cell death by lysis - the lytic phase.

25 Feb 2016

Researchers analyze how Topo II enzyme may affect stability of genomes

While researchers are now familiar with how cancer begins—cells mutate and then multiply wildly out of control—it is still uncertain exactly how that mutation starts in the molecules of the cells.

22 Feb 2016

Virginia Tech scientist finds way to potentially track and stop viruses

Viruses are molecular thieves that take from their hosts under the cloak of darkness. But now a Virginia Tech scientist has found a way to not only track viral hijackers, but also potentially stop them from replicating.

19 Feb 2016

Revealing dynamic protein complexes with NMR: an interview with Elisar Barbar

Most proteins are involved in interactions with one or a few functional ligands, but some proteins, like light chain 8 (LC8), have numerous binding partners. LC8 interacts with more than 100 functionally different proteins, from viral proteins to motor proteins to proteins involved in cell division.

From Bruker BioSpin Group 18 Feb 2016

Researchers reveal how brain-specific microRNA plays key role in causing abnormal brain development

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are a group of highly inheritable behavioural disorders that pose major personal and public health concerns. Patients with ASDs have mild to severe communication difficulties, repetitive behaviour and social challenges. Such disorders significantly challenge an individual's ability to conduct daily activities and function normally in society. Currently there are very few medication options that effectively treat ASDs.

17 Feb 2016

Researchers discover factor that controls embryonic stem cell development

After a gestation period of around ten months, fawns are born in early summer - when the weather is warm and food is plentiful for the mother. Six months would actually be enough for the embryo's development, but then offspring from mating in the later portion of summer would be born in winter.

17 Feb 2016

Discovery throws light on how human diseases work

Researchers from the University of Warwick have discovered how cells in the human body build their own 'railway networks', throwing light on how diseases such as bowel cancer work.

12 Feb 2016

Duchenne muscular dystrophy: direct effect on muscle stem cells? An interview with Dr Rudnicki

For twenty years, it has been understood that dystrophin is expressed in differentiated muscle fibers where it is part of a protein complex that crosses the membrane and connects the extracellular matrix to the actin network inside the cell to provide structural integrity.

5 Feb 2016

Study sheds light on mechanisms linked to formation of healthy egg cells in humans

Congenital disorders such as Down's syndrome could be better understood, following new insights into how healthy cells are formed.

3 Feb 2016

Researchers identify new targets that may help prevent and cure colon cancer

When the audio on your television set or smart phone is too loud, you simply turn down the volume. What if we could do the same for the signaling in our bodies that essentially causes normal cells to turn cancerous? New discoveries by researchers at the Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma may point to new ways to do just that.