Cell Membrane News and Research

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Researchers identify heart-specific form of protein that protects against irregular heartbeats

Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have identified a heart-specific form of a protein, BIN1, responsible for sculpting tiny folds in pockets that are present on the surface of heart muscle cells.

19 May 2014

Recycling patients' red blood cells during heart surgery better than banked blood transfusion

Patients whose own red blood cells are recycled and given back to them during heart surgery have healthier blood cells better able to carry oxygen where it is most needed compared to those who get transfusions of blood stored in a blood bank, according to results of a small study at Johns Hopkins.

9 May 2014

Shift switches pain sensor from cold-sensitive to hot-sensitive

Ice cream lovers and hot tea drinkers with sensitive teeth could one day have a reason to celebrate a new finding from Duke University researchers. The scientists have found a very small change in a single protein that turns a cold-sensitive receptor into one that senses heat.

9 May 2014

Researchers demonstrate possibility of using blood test to detect depression

Researchers at the MedUni Vienna have demonstrated the possibility of using a blood test to detect depression. While blood tests for mental illnesses have until recently been regarded as impossible, a recent study clearly indicates that, in principle, depression can in fact be diagnosed in this way and this could become reality in the not too distant future.

30 Apr 2014

Researchers use RNA sequencing to look at early- and late-stage development of the heart

Most people think the development of the heart only happens in the womb, however the days and weeks following birth are full of cellular changes that play a role in the structure and function of the heart. Using mouse models, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have now been able to categorize the alternative splicing (the process in which genes code proteins, determining their role) that takes place during these changes and what mechanisms they affect.

26 Apr 2014

Study could lead to better understanding of how Notch protein directs healthy development of organs

Johns Hopkins researchers report they have figured out how the aptly named protein Botch blocks the signaling protein called Notch, which helps regulate development. In a report on the discovery, to appear online April 24 in the journal Cell Reports, the scientists say they expect the work to lead to a better understanding of how a single protein, Notch, directs actions needed for the healthy development of organs as diverse as brains and kidneys.

26 Apr 2014

TSRI scientists identify protein complex that plays critical role in learning and memory formation

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have identified a protein complex that plays a critical but previously unknown role in learning and memory formation.

23 Apr 2014

Researchers develop first size-based form of chromatography using nanodot technology

Using nanodot technology, Berkeley Lab researchers have demonstrated the first size-based form of chromatography that can be used to study the membranes of living cells.

23 Apr 2014

Drug used to treat TB may also act against various infections, says study

A drug under clinical trials to treat tuberculosis could be the basis for a class of broad-spectrum drugs that act against various bacteria, fungal infections and parasites, yet evade resistance, according to a study by University of Illinois chemists and collaborators.

18 Apr 2014

Drugs used to treat osteoporosis appear to prevent cell membrane repair

A class of drugs widely used to treat osteoporosis appears to impede a cell's ability to repair a protective outer membrane that helps determine what enters and exits, researchers report.

15 Apr 2014

Scientists solve a decades-long mystery of cell biology

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has identified a long-sought protein that facilitates one of the most basic functions of cells: regulating their volume to keep from swelling excessively.

11 Apr 2014

Genome Project offers new leads to improve outcomes for children with high-grade glioma brain tumors

The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital-Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project has identified new mutations in pediatric brain tumors known as high-grade gliomas (HGGs), which most often occur in the youngest patients.

8 Apr 2014

Inhibiting cancer-promoting prolactin causes unconventional cell death in preclinical research

Under stress from chemotherapy or radiation, some cancer cells dodge death by consuming a bit of themselves, allowing them to essentially sleep through treatment and later awaken as tougher, resistant disease.

4 Apr 2014

Scientists present protein that facilitates control of nerve cells by light

Networked nerve cells are the control center of organisms. In a nematode, 300 nerve cells are sufficient to initiate complex behavior. To understand the properties of the networks, re-searchers switch cells on and off with light and observe the resulting behavior of the organism.

2 Apr 2014

Potassium boost improves walking, prolongs survival in mouse model of Huntington's disease

Tweaking a specific cell type's ability to absorb potassium in the brain improved walking and prolonged survival in a mouse model of Huntington's disease, reports a UCLA study published March 30 in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience. The discovery could point to new drug targets for treating the devastating disease, which strikes one in every 20,000 Americans.

31 Mar 2014

Researchers provide new clues for adult vertebrate tissue regeneration

The reason why some animals can regenerate tissues after severe organ loss or amputation while others, such as humans, cannot renew some structures has always intrigued scientists. In a study now published in PLOS ONE, a research group from Instituto Gulbenkian de Ci-ncia (IGC, Portugal) led by Joaqu-n Rodr-guez Le-n provided new clues to solve this central question by investigating regeneration in an adult vertebrate model: the zebrafish.

27 Mar 2014

Researchers decode effects of antimicrobial peptide on bacterial cells

The team of Julia Bandow, who heads the RUB's Junior Research Group Microbial Antibiotic Research, has been studying the MP196 peptide as a representative of a group of very small positively charged peptides that consist of some four to ten amino acids.

27 Mar 2014

Study uncovers one way that p53 acts to prevent cancer cell invasion

The tumor suppressor p53 does all it can to prevent oncogenes from transforming normal cells into tumor cells by killing defective cells or causing them to become inactive.

25 Mar 2014

Study shows how changes in organized cell membrane network of heart muscle leads to heart failure

Colchicine, a drug that's used to treat gout, has the beneficial side effect of lowering the risk of heart attack in patients taking it. Conversely, taxol, a drug for treating cancer, has the opposite effect; raising the risk of heart failure.

6 Mar 2014

Medical student receives award for finding out drugs to treat peripheral vascular disease

Working at a Saint Louis University laboratory, second-year medical student Weston Gordon performed several studies investigating two novel drug therapies that may be useful in the treatment of peripheral vascular disease in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

4 Mar 2014