Feature Channels: Cell Biology

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Our world seems to grow smaller by the day as biodiversity rapidly dwindles, but Mother Earth still has a surprise or two up her sleeve. An international team of researchers were the first to investigate a never before studied species a giant, black, mud dwelling, worm-like animal. The findings will be published online in the Apr. 17 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Researchers Reveal That the Sympathetic Nervous System, Not White Blood Cells, Are Critically Important in the Regulation of Energy Expenditure and Thermogenesis

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Study in Nature Nanotechnology describes new method to transform immune cells, while inside the body, into leukemia-fighting powerhouses

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Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a broad and strikingly easy method for synthesizing a class of molecules that have demonstrated value as pharmaceuticals.

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Vanderbilt geneticists have developed an effective method for identifying the plant genes that produce the chemical ammunition plants use to protect themselves from predation and is a natural source of many important drugs.

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Leading biologists and bioethicists from the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and other institutions, will come together to discuss these topics in a day-long symposium entitled, “Managing Cell and Human Identity.”

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By mapping out gene locations in 3D, scientists can shed light on cancer and other diseases and potentially find better treatments and new cures.

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Cancer expert Antonio Giordano, MD, PhD, Director of the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at Temple University, describes the recent progress and future possibilities of treating SCLC.

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Researchers from the Mechanobiology Institute, Singapore at the National University of Singapore have discovered the primary mechanism driving the extrusion of dying cells from epithelial monolayers.

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A new study has identified novel mechanisms whereby T cells may be able to distinguish an emerging class of targets specifically increased on cancer cells.

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Accurate genetic testing stands to transform modern medicine by offering effective, personalized treatment. Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized marketing of the first direct-to-consumer genetic health risk tests. Individuals in the US can now purchase these tests and gain potentially useful information on their genetic predisposition to 10 diseases or conditions, such as late-onset Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.

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A new study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences refines our understanding of a human skill — the ability to instantaneously assess a new environment and get oriented thanks to visual cues.

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Peter D. Adams, Ph.D., professor in the Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP), has received a Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging from the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research.

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Gene-editing alternative corrects Duchenne muscular dystrophy

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University of Utah professors Bradley R. Cairns, Ph.D., professor and chair of Oncological Sciences and senior director of Basic Science; Dana Carroll, Ph.D., distinguished professor of Biochemistry; and Christopher D. Hacon, Ph.D., distinguished professor of Mathematics, were raised to a high honor in science today with their election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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Diabetes researchers have puzzled for decades about why insulin-producing beta cells in one pancreatic islet often look and behave quite differently than their counterparts in the same islet or in nearby islets. Using newly identified cellular markers of aging, Joslin Diabetes Center scientists now have shown that this diversity may be driven at least in part by differently aged beta cell populations within the pancreas.

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St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have regenerated immature auditory hair cells in adult mice by manipulating two genes. The research offers clues for better treatment of hearing loss.

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Professor Michael Farzan, co-chair of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has received $4.8 million in funding through a 2017 Avant-Garde Award for HIV/AIDS research from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The new funding will support a five-year project, led by Farzan, to bring a potential HIV vaccine closer to human clinical trials.

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Researchers from Harvard Medical School have discovered that the body’s immune system initially detects the presence of anthrax spores by recognizing RNA molecules that coat the spores’ surface. But this prompts an unfavorable immune response that hinders the body’s fight against anthrax once the spores have germinated into live bacteria, according to the study “TLR sensing of bacterial spore-associated RNA triggers host immune responses with detrimental effects,” which will be published April 11 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

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Medical oncologist Ophira Ginsburg, MD, has joined NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center as director of its new High Risk Program, which identifies, studies and cares for patients with hereditary syndromes that increase cancer risk.

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Investigators at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles have found that the gene PID1 enhances killing of medulloblastoma, the most commonly occurring malignant primary brain tumor in children, and glioblastoma, the most commonly occurring malignant primary brain tumor in adults.

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Pancreatic cancer, most frequently pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), is the most lethal and aggressive of all cancers. Unfortunately, there are not many effective therapies available other than surgery, and that is not an option for many patients.

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ISU researchers are piecing together the genetic mechanisms that link plant growth and stress response. In a new paper, the research group links autophagy, an important energy recycling function, with slower growth during stress conditions. Autophagy plays a key role in animals as well as plants.

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Researchers published in Nature Medicine from the George Washington University, the University of Perugia, and the University of Rome have discovered a potential new drug to treat and stop the progression of cystic fibrosis. Thymosin α1 is a novel therapeutic single molecule-based therapy that not only corrects genetic and tissue defects, but also significantly reduces inflammation seen in cystic fibrosis patients.

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A new study published in Nature provides clues that could enhance physicians’ ability to pinpoint, in real-time, which patients are not responding to therapy – and intervene with additional drugs to boost the chances of shrinking tumors.

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St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital study examines origin of blood stem cells during development and offers clues for making “donor blood” in the laboratory for therapeutic use

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Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago have identified a molecular switch that converts skin cells into cells that make up blood vessels, which could ultimately be used to repair damaged vessels in patients with heart disease or to engineer new vasculature in the lab.

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A research team led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital immunologists has discovered how a set of proteins delays the “executioner” machinery that kills damaged or infected cells in a process called necroptosis.

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Berkeley Lab researchers have, for the first time, captured the ephemeral electron movements in a transient state of a chemical reaction using ultrafast, tabletop X-ray spectroscopy. The researchers used femtosecond pulses of X-ray light to catch the unraveling of a ring molecule that is important in biochemical and optoelectronic processes.

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Biologists have discovered that communities of bacteria have been employing a social timesharing strategy for millions of years. Bacteria facing limited nutrients enter an elegant timesharing strategy--a concept used for vacation homes and social applications--in which communities alternate feeding periods to maximize efficiency.

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Patients with colon and rectal cancer have somatic insertions of mitochondrial DNA into the nuclear genomes of the cancer cells, UAB researchers report. In a companion paper, they describe a molecular tool to rapidly detect and analyze insertion of mitochondrial DNA into the genomes of cells.

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In a new paper, a large team of researchers led by senior author Kelly Frazer, PhD, professor of pediatrics and director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at University of California San Diego School of Medicine describe a new collection of 222 systematically derived and characterized iPSC lines generated as part of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s NextGen consortium.

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A biochemical analysis study has discovered a new role for the DNA2 enzyme. The research, which was completed in the lab of Patrick Sung, professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at the Yale School of Medicine, looked at the way in which DNA2 repairs breaks in DNA that lead to the abnormalities that cause cancer.

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Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute investigators have learned how cardiac muscle cells react to a certain type of injury that can be caused by open-heart surgery. The findings point to a new potential way to help these hearts recover more completely. The cells, known as cardiomyocytes, can be damaged by the process of stopping and starting the heart during surgeries that use cardiopulmonary bypass machines to take over the heart's functions.

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Research conducted at the University of Adelaide has discovered that bees have much better vision than was previously known, offering new insights into the lives of honey bees, and new opportunities for translating this knowledge into fields such as robot vision.

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Anindya Bagchi, Ph.D., is joining the faculty of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) as associate professor in the Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program. Bagchi comes to SBP from the University of Minnesota.

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In 2015, more than 20,000 cases of whooping cough were identified in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that there are 16 million pertussis cases worldwide.

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X-ray studies done in part at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have produced surprising insights into the workings of a hormone receptor associated with blood pressure regulation. Researchers believe it could be a target for new medicines related to cardiovascular conditions, neuropathic pain and tissue growth.

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Many hypertension medications currently on the market target the AT1 receptor because of its well-understood role in blood pressure regulation; they block AT1 in order to reduce blood pressure. The AT2 receptor, on the other hand, is still an elusive drug target despite multiple studies of its function. Now, researchers have solved its structure to hone in on its function. The results of the experiments were surprising in several ways. First, although both compounds were designed to block and deactivate the receptors, they left AT2 in a state that appeared to be active. In addition, although AT1 and AT2 were thought to be very similar, the pockets where the receptors bind to the compounds exhibited marked differences.

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A new study from the Keck School of Medicine of USC links increased dietary potassium with lower blood pressure.

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As many as 600 million people in Southeast Asia chew areca nuts with betel leaves, sometimes adding tobacco leaves. Many users are addicted to this harmful “betel quid” preparation, which can create a sense of euphoria and alertness. Yet researchers have now discovered that compounds derived from the nut could help cigarette smokers — as well as betel quid chewers — kick their habits.

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A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Engineering has developed a novel lens for super-resolution imaging which breaks resolution limitations in microscopy and has potential applications in high precision failure inspection and biological research.

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A new facility at the University of Arkansas combines laser ablation and mass spectrometry for quick, efficient analysis of trace elements and radiogenic isotopes.

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Researchers at Michigan Medicine have found the livers of patients with a rare disease that affects metabolism have responded positively to leptin therapy.

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Over time, viruses have evolved very efficient methods for making us sick, but a UT Dallas researcher thinks that same efficiency could be exploited to improve human health.

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Stony Brook University-led research team through the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology has created a user-friendly automated computer server that calculates complex computations of modeling protein interactions with a handful of clicks from a home computer.

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A Houston Methodist-led research team showed that the systemic administration of nanoparticles triggers an inflammatory response because of blood components accumulating on their surface.

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Two biophysicists from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have used supercomputers to show how cell membranes control the shape, and consequently the function, of a major cancer-causing protein.

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In overweight and obese children and adolescents, vitamin D deficiency is associated with early markers of cardiovascular disease, a new study reports. The research results will be presented Sunday, April 2, at ENDO 2017, the annual scientific meeting of the Endocrine Society, in Orlando.

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Doctors should add an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to their hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) when they screen high-risk children for prediabetes and diabetes, new research from South Korea suggests. The study results will be presented Tuesday, April 4, at ENDO 2017, the annual scientific meeting of the Endocrine Society, in Orlando, Fla.