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Bugs may provide substantial solutions to some of life's problems

Bug spray, citronella candles, mosquito netting - most people will do anything they can to stay away from insects during the warmer months. But those creepy crawlers we try so hard to avoid may offer substantial solutions to some of life's problems.

19 Sep 2013

Discovery points to clear, workable method to disrupt unwanted memories

The human brain is exquisitely adept at linking seemingly random details into a cohesive memory that can trigger myriad associations-some good, some not so good. For recovering addicts and individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, unwanted memories can be devastating. Former meth addicts, for instance, report intense drug cravings triggered by associations with cigarettes, money, even gum (used to relieve dry mouth), pushing them back into the addiction they so desperately want to leave.

11 Sep 2013

Not-So-Total Recall: Selectively Erasing Unwanted Memories

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10 Sep 2013

Researchers define role of vinculin protein in enabling cell mobility

Researchers at the University of North Carolina and the National Institutes for Health have defined the role of the protein vinculin in enabling cell movement.

16 Aug 2013

Exo70 protein responsible for plasma membrane reshaping and cell movement

Both basic scientists and clinicians have an interest in how the cells of our body move. Cells must be mobile in order for organisms to grow, to heal, to transmit information internally, to mount immune responses and to conduct a host of other activities necessary for survival.

14 Aug 2013

Structural biologists capture elusive actin nucleation process

Structural biologists from Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have captured the first three-dimensional crystalline snapshot of a critical but fleeting process that takes place thousands of times per second in each human cell.

31 May 2013

Purified components of ginger help asthma patients breathe more easily

Gourmands and foodies everywhere have long recognized ginger as a great way to add a little peppery zing to both sweet and savory dishes; now, a study from researchers at Columbia University shows purified components of the spicy root also may have properties that help asthma patients breathe more easily.

20 May 2013

Researchers show how cells are driven mainly by water power

Water gives life. Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden now show how the cells in our bodies are driven mainly by water power - a discovery that in the long run opens the way for a new strategy in cancer therapy.

14 May 2013

Scientists halt tumour development through genetic manipulation of cytoskeleton in fly tissues

Cancer is a complex disease, in which cells undergo a series of alterations, including changes in their architecture; an increase in their ability to divide, to survive and to invade new tissues or metastasis.

7 May 2013

Study offers new hope to patients suffering from laminopathies

Laminopathies are hereditary diseases that affect mainly the muscle tissue. These diseases include for example Emery-Dreifuss Muscular dystrophy, dilated cardiomyopathy, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and Hutchison-Gilford progeria syndrome.

7 May 2013

Researchers identify how a defective protein plays central role in Giant Axonal Neuropathy

A team of international researchers led by Northwestern Medicine scientists has identified how a defective protein plays a central role in a rare, lethal childhood disease known as Giant Axonal Neuropathy, or GAN.

29 Apr 2013

Research findings could lead to new targets for treating inflammatory disorders

Researchers at UC Davis have shown how the innate immune system distinguishes between dangerous pathogens and friendly microbes. Like burglars entering a house, hostile bacteria give themselves away by breaking into cells. However, sensing proteins instantly detect the invasion, triggering an alarm that mobilizes the innate immune response.

2 Apr 2013

Living cells and cell fragments move in response to electric fields, scientists find

Like tiny crawling compass needles, whole living cells and cell fragments orient and move in response to electric fields - but in opposite directions, scientists at the University of California, Davis, have found. Their results, published April 8 in the journal Current Biology, could ultimately lead to new ways to heal wounds and deliver stem cell therapies.

30 Mar 2013

Protein with key job in muscle function moonlights in nucleus to help regulate genes

A key building block of life, actin is one of the most abundant and highly conserved proteins in eukaryotic cells.

25 Mar 2013

Researchers study how nerve cells repair themselves after injury

One molecule makes nerve cells grow longer. Another one makes them grow branches. These new experimental manipulations have taken researchers a step closer to understanding how nerve cells are repaired at their farthest reaches after injury.

25 Mar 2013

Novel modification of structural protein implicated

Studying a protein that gives structure to the nucleus of cells, Johns Hopkins researchers stumbled upon mutations associated with familial partial lipodystrophy, a rare disease that disrupts normal patterns of fat distribution throughout the body.

21 Mar 2013

Rensselaer professor awarded NIH grant to explore cellular function with links to diverse diseases

The interior of every cell within our bodies is crisscrossed with a network of molecular highways upon which nutrients, replacement parts, and other vital materials travel to their appropriate location.

20 Mar 2013

Novel therapeutic strategy for post-prostatectomy erectile dysfunction

Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells cultivated on the surface of nanofibrous meshes could be a novel therapeutic strategy against post-prostatectomy erectile dysfunction, conclude the authors of a study which is to be presented at the 28th Annual EAU Congress later this week.

16 Mar 2013

Cell fusion studies at Johns Hopkins could lead to improved treatments for muscular dystrophy

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have established a high-efficiency cell-cell fusion system, providing a new model to study how fusion works. The scientists showed that fusion between two cells is not equal and mutual as some assumed, but, rather, is initiated and driven by one of the fusion partners. The discovery, they say, could lead to improved treatments for muscular dystrophy, since muscle regeneration relies on cell fusion to make muscle fibers that contain hundreds or even thousands of nuclei.

8 Mar 2013

mTORC2 plays key role in regulating memory formation

Introductions at a party seemingly go in one ear and out the other. However, if you meet someone two or three times during the party, you are more likely to remember his or her name. Your brain has taken a short-term memory - the introduction - and converted it into a long-term one.

7 Mar 2013