Cytoskeleton News and Research

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MGH researchers discover new plant compounds that block blood vessel growth

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have discovered the first of an entirely new class of antiangiogenesis drugs - agents that interfere with the development of blood vessels.

2 Jul 2011

Scientists find neuronal cells die in Alzheimer's disease

In what they are calling a new direction in the study of Alzheimer's disease, UC Santa Barbara scientists have made an important finding about what happens to brain cells that are destroyed in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

8 Jun 2011

Researchers reveal surprising link between cell's skeleton and organ size

A group of scientists at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ci-ncia, in Portugal, have uncovered a surprising link between the cell's skeleton and organ size. The team, led by Florence Janody, show in the journal Development, that one of the proteins that regulates the skeleton of the cell also acts to blocks activation of genes that promote cell survival and proliferation.

7 Jun 2011

New understanding of muscle growth and repair

Revealing another part of the story of muscle development, Johns Hopkins researchers have shown how the cytoskeleton from one muscle cell builds finger-like projections that invade into another muscle cell’s territory, eventually forcing the cells to combine.

5 Jun 2011

MreB protein molecules assemble into larger units in bacterial cell wall

Almost all bacteria owe their structure to an outer cell wall that interacts closely with the supporting MreB protein inside the cell. As scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry and at the French INRA now show, MreB molecules assemble into larger units, but not - as previously believed - into continuous helical structures.

4 Jun 2011

Insight into understanding of normal muscle growth

Revealing another part of the story of muscle development, Johns Hopkins researchers have shown how the cytoskeleton from one muscle cell builds finger-like projections that invade into another muscle cell's territory, eventually forcing the cells to combine.

4 Jun 2011

Researchers discover molecular mechanisms behind autoimmunity

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine have discovered that human proteins with an affinity for Dermatan Sulfate have the propensity to become autoantigens. In a companion article, the researchers also found that DS physically interacts with dead cells and that the resulting DS-autoantigen complexes drive autoreactive B-1a cell responses and autoantibody production both in-vitro and in mouse models.

26 Apr 2011

Scientists discover new mechanism behind Salmonella invasion into gut cells

Scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany have discovered a new, hitherto unknown mechanism of Salmonella invasion into gut cells: In this entry mode, the bacteria exploit the muscle power of cells to be pulled into the host cell cytoplasm.

22 Apr 2011

Scientists develop new method for enzyme immobilization

Virtually all processes in the human body rely on a unique class of proteins known as enzymes. To study them, scientists want to attach these molecules to surfaces and hold them fast, but this can often be a tricky undertaking.

12 Apr 2011

Biochemical process that lasts a long time causes memory storage

You may remember the color of your loved one's eyes for years. But how?

21 Mar 2011

Deactivation of tau gene may help reverse memory loss in Alzheimer disease

Amyloid-beta and tau protein deposits in the brain are characteristic features of Alzheimer disease. The effect on the hippocampus, the area of the brain that plays a central role in learning and memory, is particularly severe. However, it appears that the toxic effect of tau protein is largely eliminated when the corresponding tau gene is switched off.

16 Feb 2011

Warwick research opens new strategy in vehicle design for drug release

The ability of some forms of plankton and bacteria to build an extra natural layer of nanoparticle-like armour has inspired chemists at the University of Warwick to devise a startlingly simple way to give drug bearing polymer vesicles (microscopic polymer based sacs of liquid) their own armoured protection.

31 Jan 2011

Taxol reduces cell regeneration obstacles after spinal cord injury: Scientists

After a spinal cord injury a number of factors impede the regeneration of nerve cells. Two of the most important of these factors are the destabilization of the cytoskeleton and the development of scar tissue.

29 Jan 2011

Taxol drug promotes regeneration of nerve cells in CNS after spinal cord injury: Study

In a study published today in Science, a global research team reports that the cancer drug Taxol promotes the regeneration of injured nerve cells in the central nervous system after spinal cord injury.

28 Jan 2011

Scientists discover fundamental mechanism behind toxic protein aggregation in neurodegenerative diseases

Protein aggregation underlies several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's chorea or Parkinson's. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried near Munich, Germany, now discovered a fundamental mechanism which explains how toxic protein aggregation occurs and why it leads to a widespread impairment of essential cellular functions.

20 Jan 2011

75% of cell plasma membrane reversibly endocytosed

In three papers in the January and February issues of the Journal of General Physiology, Don Hilgemann and colleagues have extensively characterized a previously unidentified process by which up to 75% of the cell plasma membrane can be reversibly endocytosed.

18 Jan 2011

Silicon microdevices may provide new way to screen metastatic breast cancer cells

Research by engineers and cancer biologists at Virginia Tech indicate that using specific silicon microdevices might provide a new way to screen breast cancer cells' ability to metastasize.

11 Jan 2011

Specific silicon microdevices may provide new way to screen metastatic breast cancer cells

Research by engineers and cancer biologists at Virginia Tech indicate that using specific silicon microdevices might provide a new way to screen breast cancer cells' ability to metastasize.

9 Jan 2011

Prostate cancer study identifies 295 genes associated with clinical recurrence following radical prostatectomy

Genomic Health, Inc. today announced the first results of a large prostate cancer study that identified 295 genes strongly associated with clinical recurrence following radical prostatectomy. Top-line findings from this study, which applied the same RT-PCR technology used in Genomic Health's Oncotype DX® breast and colon cancer tests, will be presented today at the Society for Urologic Oncology (SUO) annual meeting.

13 Dec 2010

Researchers discover central switch that regulates movement of cancer cells

Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered a central switch that controls whether cells move or remain stationary. The misregulation of this switch may play a role in the increased movement of tumor cells and in the aggressiveness of tumors themselves.

9 Dec 2010