Molecular & Structural Biology

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Researchers show how the ductal system connecting digestive organs is formed

A specialized system of ducts transports bile and enzymes from the liver and pancreas to the intestine. In a new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have shown how this ductal system is formed. The new knowledge can help understanding how congenital diseases in that part of the body arise.

3 Dec 2019

New approach helps study the decision-making process in the brain

Without hardly noticing, we make countless decisions: to turn left or right on the bus? To wait or to accelerate? To look or to ignore? In the run-up to these decisions the brain evaluates sensory information and only then does it generate a behavior.

2 Dec 2019

Unexpected versatility of an ancient DNA repair factor revealed

If a bone breaks or a tendon snaps, you know to seek treatment immediately. But your most fragile and precious cellular commodity, chromosomal DNA, breaks with astounding frequency- some estimate as many as 10,000 times a day per cell- usually without consequence.

2 Dec 2019

75-year old blood-stained microscope slide reveals historical spread of malaria

DNA from 75-year old eradicated European malaria parasites uncovers the historical spread of one of the two most common forms of the disease, Plasmodium vivax, from Europe to the Americas during the colonial period, finds a new study co-led by UCL.

2 Dec 2019

Human behavior closely follows probabilistic inference patterns, study suggests

How do human beings perceive their environment and take their decisions? To successfully interact with the immediate environment, for human beings it is not enough to have basic evidence of the world around them.

2 Dec 2019

New molecular mechanism involved in the regulation of cholesterol movement in cells found

Researchers from the University of Barcelona and the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute found a new molecular mechanism involved in the regulation of the cholesterol movement in cells, an essential process for a proper cell functioning.

2 Dec 2019

Purification scheme allows collection of elusive blood stem cells from zebrafish

Hematopoietic stem cells are multipotent cells that can develop into every type of blood cell in the body.

2 Dec 2019

New automated method helps identify cancer cell metabolism inhibitors

UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have developed a new automated method for testing hundreds of molecules at a time to find out which ones block cancer cells from consuming glucose - the sugars they need to spread and grow.

29 Nov 2019

What protects killer T cells from accidental death?

White blood cells, which release a toxic potion of proteins to kill cancerous and virus-infected cells, are protected from any harm by the physical properties of their cell envelopes, find scientists from UCL and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

27 Nov 2019

Research could help design better flu vaccines

Each year millions of Americans become sick with the flu, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized and tens of thousands die. Getting the flu shot can reduce the chances of infection. But, at best, the vaccine is only effective 40% to 60% of the time, according to the CDC.

26 Nov 2019

Study shows how fiber spacing could control cell sticking

Researchers from the Mechanobiology Institute at the National University of Singapore have shown that cells can attach to the fibrous protein meshwork that surrounds them only if the fibers are spaced close enough.

26 Nov 2019

Discovery in C. difficile biology opens new window to developing treatments for dangerous infections

A process called sporulation that helps the dangerous bacterium Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) to survive inhospitable conditions and spread is regulated by epigenetics, factors that affect gene expression beyond the DNA genetic code, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai report.

25 Nov 2019

Article reveals new mechanism of programmed aging

Nature has sentenced humans to an inevitable death from the time of birth; the natural instrument of execution is the aging process. According to modern scientific notions, only two root causes of aging can be: stochastic physiological damage or the implementation of a special genetic program in the body.

25 Nov 2019

Fetuses may be able to see more than previously believed

By the second trimester, long before a baby's eyes can see images, they can detect light.

25 Nov 2019

New highly sensitive test for dengue virus developed using DNA star

Researchers have developed a new method for detecting and destroying the dengue virus that could be adapted for other viruses.

25 Nov 2019

Scientists record assembly of ribosomes in real time

A team of scientists from Scripps Research and Stanford University has recorded in real time a key step in the assembly of ribosomes--the complex and evolutionarily ancient "molecular machines" that make proteins in cells and are essential for all life forms.

22 Nov 2019

DNA-modulated liquid droplets may explain how prion proteins clump

Researchers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, have identified that the interaction between prion proteins and DNA may be behind the formation of protein amyloid aggregates and of the emergence of neurodegenerative diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and other spongiform encephalopathies.

22 Nov 2019

Scientists investigate the dynamics of molecular changes in gliomas

Until relatively recently, cancer was viewed as a single disease with sub-types based on where in the body it arose.

22 Nov 2019

Researchers develop breakthrough in marine sponge cell culture

Vertebrate, insect, and plant cell lines are important tools for research in many disciplines, including human health, evolutionary and developmental biology, agriculture and toxicology. Cell lines have been established for many organisms, including freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates.

21 Nov 2019

Neuroscientists decode how visual cues can reorganize the activity of compass neurons

If you've ever woken up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and stumbled around in the dark, banging into walls or dressers in a room you've walked through countless times, you've experienced the effects of inadequately calibrated neurons.

21 Nov 2019