Feature Channels: Cell Biology

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Released: 16-Aug-2010 8:15 AM EDT
Newly-Identified RNA Sequence is Key in MicroRNA Processing
Tufts University

Researchers have uncovered a mechanism that regulates the processing of microRNAs (miRNAs), molecules that regulate cell growth, development, and stress response. The discovery helps researchers understand the links between miRNA expression and chronic disease.

Released: 6-Aug-2010 8:00 AM EDT
Scientists Discover Protein that Shuttles RNA into Mitochrondria
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences

Researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine have uncovered a role for an essential cell protein in shuttling RNA into the mitochondria, the energy-producing “power plant” of the cell.

   
2-Aug-2010 2:00 PM EDT
SORTing Out the Links Between Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

The true power of genomic research lies in its ability to help scientists understand biological processes, particularly those that – when altered – can lead to disease. This power is demonstrated dramatically in a pair of papers published today in the journal Nature. In the first, a global team of researchers describes 95 different variations across the genome that contribute in different degrees to alterations in blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels in multiple human populations. In the second report, close examination of just one of these common variants not only reveals the involvement of an unexpected genetic pathway in lipid metabolism but also provides a blueprint for using genomic findings to unravel biological connections between lipid levels and coronary heart disease.

   
2-Aug-2010 9:15 AM EDT
Molecular Bandit Keeps Pain at Bay
University of North Carolina Health Care System

UNC researchers have identified an enzyme that blocks chronic pain by robbing a major pain pathway of a key ingredient. The enzyme could prevent lasting pain after surgery.

Released: 3-Aug-2010 12:25 PM EDT
New Tagging Technique Enhances View of Living Cells
University of Illinois Chicago

A research team led by University of Illinois at Chicago chemist Lawrence Miller has developed a new technique to tag and image proteins within living mammalian cells, providing the clearest, most dynamic microscopic protein-protein interaction in cells ever viewed.

Released: 2-Aug-2010 7:40 AM EDT
'Guardian of the Genome': Protein Helps Prevent Damaged DNA in Yeast
Cornell University

Like a scout that runs ahead to spot signs of damage or danger, a protein in yeast safeguards the yeast cells' genome during replication -- a process vulnerable to errors when DNA is copied -- according to new Cornell research.

27-Jul-2010 1:05 PM EDT
Scientists Find Gas Pedal – And Brake - for Uncontrolled Cell Growth
UC San Diego Health

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a new way to regulate the uncontrolled growth of blood vessels, a major problem in a broad range of diseases and conditions.

Released: 28-Jul-2010 11:50 AM EDT
Professor Uncovers Mysterious Workings of Cholera Bacteria
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)

Researchers have found that an enzyme in the bacteria that causes cholera uses a previously unknown mechanism in providing the bacteria with energy. Because the enzyme is not found in most other organisms, including humans, the finding offers insights into how drugs might be created to kill the bacteria without harming humans.

Released: 27-Jul-2010 12:00 PM EDT
Calcium Connections: Researchers Discover Basic Pathway for Maintaining Cell’s Fuel Stores
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Investigators have described a previously unknown biological mechanism in cells that prevents them from cannibalizing themselves for fuel. The mechanism involves the fuel used by cells under normal conditions and relies on an ongoing transfer of calcium between two cell components via an ion channel. Without this transfer, cells start consuming themselves as a way of to get enough energy.

Released: 26-Jul-2010 1:30 PM EDT
Researchers Uncover Biological Rationale for Why Intensive Lupus Treatment Works
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have uncovered the biological rationale for why large doses of corticosteroids given repeatedly over several weeks may help individuals with lupus, a chronic inflammatory disease that affects more than 1 million people in the U.S.

Released: 22-Jul-2010 12:35 PM EDT
How Do Cells Die? Biophotonic Tools Reveal Real-Time Dynamics in Living Color
University at Buffalo

Apoptosis, programmed cell death, is essential to normal development, healthy immune system function, and cancer prevention. The process dramatically transforms cellular structures but the limitations of conventional microscopy methods have kept much about this structural reorganization a mystery.

20-Jul-2010 4:00 PM EDT
Study Suggests Link Between Metabolic Disease, Bone Mass in Mice
Johns Hopkins Medicine

A new study by Johns Hopkins researchers has found that insulin, the sugar-regulating hormone, is required for normal bone development and that it may provide a link between bone health and metabolic disease, such as diabetes.

20-Jul-2010 9:35 AM EDT
Gut Movements in Caterpillars Have Impact on Robotic Design
Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech engineers and Tufts biologists have discovered internal soft-tissue movements of freely crawling caterpillars are massively out of sync with the external body movements.

Released: 21-Jul-2010 11:35 AM EDT
Researchers Pinpoint Key Stem Cells for Eating and Sex
George Washington University

New research, published in the journal Development, by Dr. Anthony-Samuel LaMantia, professor of Pharmacology & Physiology and director of the newly formed GW Institute for Neuroscience, and his colleagues have identified the stem cells that generate three critical classes of nerve cells – olfactory receptors (ORNs), vomeronasal (VRNs) and gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons – that are responsible for enabling animals and humans, to eat, interact socially and reproduce.

Released: 21-Jul-2010 4:50 AM EDT
Nature to Provide Eco-friendly Method for Reducing Mosquitoes
University of Haifa

New research at the University of Haifa has made a breakthrough in identifying chemical substances released by mosquitoes' natural predators that function as warning signals for egg laying mosquitoes.

Released: 20-Jul-2010 2:45 PM EDT
AMP Presents at FDA Meeting on Regulating Diagnostics
Association for Molecular Pathology

The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) participated in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) public meeting on the oversight of laboratory developed tests (LDTs). Dr. Karen Mann, President of AMP, served on the second panel of the meeting titled, Clinical Laboratory Challenges. Additionally, Dr. Elaine Lyon, Chair of the AMP Professional Relations Committee, presented public comments.

Released: 20-Jul-2010 11:10 AM EDT
Researchers Discover Missing Link in Cell Mitosis: The Role of Protein in Controlling Cell Division is Unveiled
George Washington University

A major discovery, led by researchers from The George Washington University Medical Center, promises to revolutionize the way scientists think about key aspects of cellular lifecycle and offers a new avenue for cancer researchers to explore in their quest to one day slow down the progression of cancer.

Released: 14-Jul-2010 2:50 PM EDT
Blind Mice Can “See” Thanks to Special Retinal Cells
 Johns Hopkins University

Research finds that mice without working rods and cones can still see -- and not just light, but also patterns and images -- thanks to other photosensitive cells in the retina.

Released: 14-Jul-2010 12:45 PM EDT
Opening the Gate to the Cell's Recycling Center
University of Michigan

In cells, as in cities, disposing of garbage and recycling anything that can be reused is an essential service. In both city and cell, health problems can arise when the process breaks down.

Released: 2-Jul-2010 9:00 AM EDT
Cell Signaling Classification System Gives Researchers New Tool
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Using ever-growing genome data, scientists with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee are tracing the evolution of the bacterial regulatory system that controls cellular motility, potentially giving researchers a method for predicting important cellular functions that will impact both medical and biotechnology research.

28-May-2010 10:40 AM EDT
Sluggish Cell Division May Explain Genital Defects
University of Florida Health Science Center

Scientists have learned how a gene controls cell division, a finding that could be useful for understanding why increasing numbers of children are being born with genital malformations.

Released: 26-May-2010 8:00 AM EDT
Study Sheds Light on How Marine Animals Survive Stress
Tufts University

Research of how Galapagos marine iguanas respond to El Niño could provide insight into how wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico will respond to the current oil spill. In emergencies, animals secrete corticosterone to help them cope. However, prolonged hormone production can also be lethal.



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