Cell Membrane News and Research

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TSRI scientists reveal workings of key 'relief-valve' in cells

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has solved a long-standing mystery in cell biology by showing essentially how a key "relief-valve" in cells does its job.

30 Jan 2016

Nutrition and breast cancer; starving triple negative breast cancer cells to death: an interview with Associate Professor Jeff Holst

While there are a range of reports that different foods and food groups can increase or decrease your risk of cancer, these associations are very difficult to scientifically verify.

27 Jan 2016

Berlin researchers identify defects in myotubular myopathy

Tiny deviations in the body's cells can sometimes have severe consequences. Researchers from Berlin have discovered why cells from patients suffering from the rare muscular disease myotubular myopathy cannot function properly.

21 Jan 2016

New study sheds light on possible role of ion channel in the immune system

Many cells have microscopic gates, called ion channels, which open to allow the flow of ions across the cell membrane. Thanks to these gates, cells can detect stimuli such as heat, pain, pressure and even spicy food.

20 Jan 2016

Discoveries could lead to development of novel therapies to prevent C. diff infection

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have obtained the crystal structure of a toxin from the bacterium Clostridium difficile ("C. diff") -- the leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea in the United States.

12 Jan 2016

Study illuminates ways to better treat knee meniscus tears, other injuries

Fibrocartilage tissue in the knee is comprised of a more varied molecular structure than researchers previously appreciated, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware.

11 Jan 2016

Ultrafast near-infrared lasers deliver gene therapy to treat macular degeneration

Millions of adults over age 50 struggle each year with vision loss caused by damage to the retina or common macular degeneration.

24 Dec 2015

Scientists uncover novel strategy to block cancer's spread, restore tumor vulnerability to chemotherapy

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have discovered how an aggressive tumor of the muscle and soft tissue hijacks an export pathway in cells to lay the groundwork for cancer progression and resistance to chemotherapy.

22 Dec 2015

Light-driven protein has potential to become key tool for optogenetics

Biophysicists have developed a hypothesis to explain the function of a light-driven protein which pumps sodium ions across a cell membrane, and they have revealed the key structural feature of these pumps. The scientists see these sodium pumps as being highly promising tools in using light signals to control nerve cells – which is exactly what is involved in the new scientific field of optogenetics.

15 Dec 2015

TSRI-led study shows how different drugs regulate protein linked to asthma, obesity and diabetes

A new study, led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, shows how different pharmaceutical drugs hit either the "on" or "off" switch of a signaling protein linked to asthma, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

11 Dec 2015

Shank3 gene linked to both autism and schizophrenia

Although it is known that psychiatric disorders have a strong genetic component, untangling the web of genes contributing to each disease is a daunting task. Scientists have found hundreds of genes that are mutated in patients with disorders such as autism, but each patient usually has only a handful of these variations.

10 Dec 2015

Genetic variations associated with increased risk for osteonecrosis in young ALL patients

Variations in genes involved in normal bone development are associated with an 8- to 15-fold increased risk for osteonecrosis in young patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Children's Oncology Group investigators.

7 Dec 2015

Negative impact of high-fat diet on red blood cells may promote development of cardiovascular disease

University of Cincinnati researchers have discovered the negative impact a high fat diet has on red blood cells and how these cells, in turn, promote the development of cardiovascular disease.

17 Nov 2015

Loyola and Notre Dame researchers report promising new approaches to treating cancer

Promising new approaches to treating cancer were reported during a recent meeting of researchers from Loyola University Chicago and the University of Notre Dame.

12 Nov 2015

Protein sensor for proprioception found

Can you touch a finger to the tip of your nose with your eyes closed? Most of us can, thanks to a sense called proprioception, which tells us where our body parts are relative to each other and our environment. Not surprisingly, this sense is essential for normal movement and balance—walking, for instance.

10 Nov 2015

Oxford professor wins Heinrich Wieland Prize for pioneering method that helps control nerve cells with light

Gero Miesenböck was the first to insert a light-controlled on/off switch into brain cells. His pioneering method allows scientists to switch nerve cells on and off selectively and observe how the behaviour of, for example, fruit flies or mice changes as a result. In this way, researchers can learn in a step-by-step process what behaviour the studied brain circuits control and what goes awry in disease. For his method, hailed as a "breakthrough of the decade," Professor Gero Miesenböck of the University of Oxford will receive the 100,000-euro Heinrich Wieland Prize of the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation in Munich on November 6, 2015.

4 Nov 2015

Researchers develop cancer-killing 'grenades’

Researchers have developed cancer drug-packed 'grenades' armed with heat sensitive triggers, allowing for treatment to be targeted directly at tumours, according to two studies due to be presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Liverpool.

31 Oct 2015

Rotation model provides explanation of ligand activation mechanism of dimeric receptors

"This 'rotation model', which made the cover of BioEssays, represents a true paradigm shift in the membrane receptor field," stated Prof. Pierre De Meyts, a renowned researcher of insulin and receptor binding for almost half a century and one of the reviewers of the paper by Prof. Ichiro Maruyama, the head of the Information Processing Biology Unit at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University.

31 Oct 2015

New broad-spectrum antibiotic can kill bacteria by punching holes in their membranes

Bacteria have many methods of adapting to resist antibiotics, but a new class of spiral polypeptides developed at the University of Illinois targets one thing no bacterium can live without: an outer membrane.

29 Oct 2015

Novel method for examining small molecules may provide platform for new drug design

Most pharmaceutical drugs consist of tiny molecules, which target a class of proteins found on the surfaces of cell membranes. Studying these subtle interactions is essential for the design of effective drugs, but the task is extremely challenging.

26 Oct 2015