Cell Membrane News and Research

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Study reveals potential therapeutic targets for treating patients who carry IFNGR receptor mutation

The study began by taking the medical history of 11 children, all of whom had a disorder due to mycobacteria infections, as the basis. All were discovered to have the same phenotype with the same mutation, which was located in the interferon-gamma (IFNGR) receptor, so the group began to explore what was causing this dysfunction.

27 Oct 2016

New study raises serious safety concerns in clinical use of caspase inhibitors for liver injury

Many acute and chronic liver diseases, including alcoholic hepatitis, result from apoptotic (programmed) cell death mediated by the enzyme caspase.

20 Oct 2016

Novel device that uses gold nanowires may benefit biomedical professionals during medical procedures

Grown like a snowflake and sharpened with a sewing machine, a novel device by Kansas State University researchers may benefit biomedical professionals and the patients they serve during electrode and organ transplant procedures.

20 Oct 2016

DZNE scientists find new mechanism that allows damaged neurons to regenerate

Injuries to the spinal cord can cause paralysis and other permanent disabilities because severed nerve fibers do not regrow. Now, scientists of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases have succeeded in releasing a molecular brake that prevents the regeneration of nerve connections.

7 Oct 2016

GDE2 protein could help predict course of neuroblastoma

The research group of Wouter Moolenaar of the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) has, in collaboration with the group of Rogier Versteeg of the AMC Amsterdam, discovered a protein that can predict the course of neuroblastoma.

4 Oct 2016

Researchers uncover pneumonia causing bacteria as trigger for autoimmune disease GBS

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute life-threatening disease of the nervous system that leads to sensory disturbances and acute flaccid paralysis.

3 Oct 2016

X-ray laser-based technology enables faster structural analysis of receptor proteins

An international team of scientists has learnt how to determine the spatial structure of a protein obtained with an X-ray laser using the sulfur atoms it contains. This development is the next stage in the project of a group led by Vadim Cherezov to create an effective method of studying receptor proteins.

30 Sep 2016

Researchers discover how signals from infectious bacteria get to inflammasome sensors

Researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered the way signals from infectious bacteria gain entry into the cytoplasm of host cells to activate disease-fighting inflammasomes.

29 Sep 2016

CUMC researchers uncover new details of intracellular channel that controls skeletal muscle

Using high-resolution electron microscopy, Columbia University Medical Center researchers have uncovered new details of the structure and function of an intracellular channel that controls the contraction of skeletal muscle.

22 Sep 2016

KIT researchers use high-resolution microscopy to uncover how scavenger cells repair muscle fibers

Everybody knows the burning sensation in the legs when climbing down a steep slope for a long time. It is caused by microruptures in the cell membrane of our muscle fibers.

21 Sep 2016

Researchers propose new explanation for symptoms of fragile X syndrome

Until recently, scientists thought they understood one of the underlying causes of fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability in the United States.

20 Sep 2016

Gene therapy may be viable approach for treating CF lung problems

Two new studies from the University of Iowa suggest that gene therapy may be a viable approach for treating or preventing lung disease caused by cystic fibrosis.

20 Sep 2016

Rensselaer awarded $2.2 million grant to develop ion conductive alkaline membrane materials

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has been awarded $2.2 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy to develop innovative ion conduction materials for next-generation renewable energy conversion and storage technology.

19 Sep 2016

Study provides deeper understanding of how cells' crowded surfaces induce complex protein behavior

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have brought physics and biology together to further understand how cells' crowded surfaces induce complex protein behavior.

16 Sep 2016

IRB Barcelona researchers reveal new strategy to obtain barrel-shaped amyloid-beta aggregates

Researchers at IRB Barcelona describe for the first time how to prepare a specific type of aggregate of the amyloid-beta protein with the ability to perforate the cell membrane.

14 Sep 2016

Liquid crystal technique could be new way to control drug delivery process

Liquid crystals are strange substances, both fish and fowl. They can flow like a liquid, but have the orderly molecular structure of a crystalline solid. And that internal structure can be changed by small cues from outside.

13 Sep 2016

Operational mechanism of Acid-sensing Ion Channel plays pivotal role in transmitting pain signals

Professor Byung-Chang Suh's research team from the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences succeeded in identifying a new operational mechanism principle of the 'Acid-sensing Ion Channel,' which recognizes internal pain in an organism.

13 Sep 2016

First accurate simulation reveals how virus shape changes when invading host cell

For the first time, scientists know what happens to a virus' shape when it invades a host cell, thanks to an experiment by researchers at Penn State College of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

12 Sep 2016

New study raises safety concerns on clinical use of caspase inhibitors for liver diseases

Many acute and chronic liver diseases, including alcoholic hepatitis, result from apoptotic (programmed) cell death mediated by the enzyme caspase. Caspase inhibitors have therapeutic potential to treat and prevent apoptosis-mediated liver injury, and some are currently in clinical trials.

9 Sep 2016

Novel controlled clinical trial finds Ayurvedic-based well-being program can alter blood-based metabolites

In a novel controlled clinical trial, participants in a six-day Ayurvedic-based well-being program that featured a vegetarian diet, meditation, yoga and massages experienced measurable decreases in a set of blood-based metabolites associated with inflammation, cardiovascular disease risk and cholesterol regulation.