Mammalian Cells News and Research

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Epigenetic mark guides stem cells toward their destiny

Not all stem cells are completely blank slates. Some, known as adult stem cells, have already partially embraced their fates and are capable of becoming only cells of a particular type of tissue. So how do these tissue-specific stem cells restrict their fate?

19 Mar 2009

Researchers create gene circuit that permits precise tuning of a gene's expression in a cell

Researchers have crafted a gene circuit that permits precise tuning of a gene's expression in a cell, an advance that should allow for more accurate analysis of the gene's role in normal and abnormal cellular function.

11 Mar 2009

Protein function and chromatin structure methods featured in Cold Spring Harbor Protocols

Two new methods for analyzing the roles played by proteins in cells are featured in the March issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols.

3 Mar 2009

Researchers study Actin - a globular protein

Actin, a globular protein found in all eukaryotic cells, is a workhorse that varies remarkably little from baker's yeast to the human body.

20 Feb 2009

Could a hereditary illness ever spread by contamination?

Researchers at the CNRS Laboratoire d'enzymologie et biochimie structurales, studying Huntington's disease in collaboration with Professor Ron Kopito's team at Stanford University, have shown that the normal form of huntingtin protein can acquire an abnormal form without any modification of its genetic code.

10 Feb 2009

Hair follicle stem cells may be key to organ regeneration

Most people consider hair as a purely cosmetic part of their lives. To others, it may help uncover one of nature's best-kept secrets: the body's ability to regenerate organs.

8 Feb 2009

New tools that spotlight individual cellular molecules are transforming biomedical research

Remarkable new tools that spotlight individual cellular molecules are transforming biomedical research.

27 Jan 2009

Topical microbicide protects against genital herpes

A topical microbicide that silences two genes can safely protect against genital herpes infection for as long as one week, according to a joint study by researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Harvard Medical School.

21 Jan 2009

Biologists discover link between CGG repeats in DNA and neurological disorders

Researchers have long known that some repetitive DNA sequences can make human chromosomes "fragile," i.e. appearing constricted or even broken during cell divisions.

12 Jan 2009

Novavax announces positive results in trial of seasonal influenza VLP (trivalent) vaccine candidate

Novavax, Inc. has announced favorable results from a Phase IIa human clinical trial of its seasonal influenza VLP (trivalent) vaccine candidate.

12 Dec 2008

Yeast provides new insight into cholesterol-lowering drugs

Having discovered how a lowly, single-celled fungus regulates its version of cholesterol, Johns Hopkins researchers are gaining new insight about the target and action of cholesterol-lowering drugs taken daily by millions of people to stave off heart attacks and strokes.

3 Dec 2008

Researchers provide new insight into adaptive ability of cells

The Stowers Institute's Rong Li Lab has published findings that shed light on the ability of cells to adapt to disruptions to their basic division machineries - findings that may help explain how cancer cells elude the body's natural defense mechanisms or chemotherapy treatment.

26 Nov 2008

Biomedical research could benefit from deep sea

A study published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE highlights how the exploration of the ocean depths can benefit humankind.

19 Nov 2008

New clue for cellular damage in Huntington's disease

"Huntington's disease presents an ideal vantage point to study neurodegenerative disease, because we know the misfolded protein that's responsible," says Martin Duennwald, formerly a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Whitehead Member Susan Lindquist.

16 Nov 2008

Scientists identify a molecule that coordinates the movement of cells

Even cells commute. To get from their birthplace to their work site, they sequentially attach to and detach from an elaborate track of exceptionally strong proteins known as the extracellular matrix. Now, in research to appear in the October 3 issue of Cell, scientists at Rockefeller University show that a molecule, called ACF7, helps regulate and power this movement from the inside - findings that could have implications for understanding how cancer cells metastasize.

2 Oct 2008

Accelr8 announces publication of study on OptiChem bio-coatings

Accelr8 Technology Corporation announced today that two teams of university research collaborators report new methods for scalable production with the company’s patented OptiChem bio-coatings.

11 Sep 2008

Stem cell chicken and egg debate moves to unlikely arena: the testes

Logic says it has to be the niche. As air and water preceded life, so the niche, that hospitable environment that shelters adult stem cells in many tissues and provides factors necessary to keep them young and vital, must have emerged before its stem cell dependents.

20 Jul 2008

Link between DNA palindromes and disease discovered

In the past 10 years, researchers in genome stability have observed that many kinds of cancers are associated with areas where human chromosomes break. More recently, scientists have discovered that slow or altered replication causes chromosomal breaking. But why does DNA replication stall?

14 Jul 2008

Arsenic and new rice

Amid recent reports of dangerous levels of arsenic being found in some baby rice products, scientists have found a protein in plants that could help to reduce the toxic content of crops grown in environments with high levels of this poisonous metal.

10 Jun 2008

How the cholesterol-lowering drug ezetimibe (Zetia) works

A new study in the June issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, sheds light on the action of the drug ezetimibe (trade name Zetia), which is used to treat high cholesterol. Ezetimibe is unique among cholesterol-lowering drugs in that it works by cutting the amount of cholesterol taken in from the diet rather than by blocking cholesterol's manufacture in the body.

3 Jun 2008