Scientists Demonstrate How Auxin Reaches Its Destination
A team of researchers from the University of Freiburg have discovered how the plant hormone auxin is transported within the cell and how this signaling…
Cell Biology
Biophysicists Design Nanofibrous Scaffolds for Heart Cells
Biophysicists from MIPT have studied the structure of a nanofibrous scaffold, as well as its interaction with rat cardiac cells. The study, which is part…
New Breakthrough Allows Biologists to Grow and Test the Dormant Form of Malaria
One of the biggest obstacles to eradicating malaria is a dormant form of the parasite that lurks in the livers of some patients. This dormant…
Critically Important Intercellular Communication System Discovered
Multicellular organisms like ourselves depend on a constant flow of information between cells, coordinating their activities in order to proliferate and differentiate. Deciphering the language…
Naked Mole Rats Unlock Key Mechanisms of Aging and Cancer Resistance
With their large buck teeth and wrinkled, hairless bodies, naked mole rats won’t be winning any awards for cutest rodent. But their long life span–they…
New Technique Enables Biologists to Control Motion Within Living Cells
Simple motion inside biological cells, such as the streaming of cytoplasm – the liquid cell interior – is widely believed to be essential for cells…
Newly Discovered Molecular Mechanism May Be Key to Fighting Chronic Infections
How do viruses that cause chronic infections, such as HIV or hepatitis c virus, manage to outsmart their hosts’ immune systems? The answer to that…
“DNA-Origami” Allows Scientists to Study Minute Protein Interactions
DNA is packaged tightly within the cell’s nuclear membranes, which contain channels that regulate the transit of macromolecules governing all of life’s functions. Yale University…
Yale Researchers Track How Cells Repair Rips in DNA
All DNA is sealed within the cell’s nuclear membrane, which protects it from molecular marauders. But what happens when that protective envelope rips? Yale researchers…
STORM Reveals Never-Before-Seen Holes in the Cytoskeletal Mesh
One of today’s sharpest imaging tools, super-resolution microscopy, produces sparkling images of what until now has been the blurry interior of cells, detailing not only…
A Powerful New Tool for Studying Complex Biological Events
A new method for monitoring interactions between cells, dubbed LIPSTIC by its creators, is much more than a cosmetic improvement over existing techniques. The breakthrough,…
Scientists Discover How a Gene Mutation Affects T Cell Function and Successfully Fix It
Scientists discovered how a gene mutation affects T cell function to promote immune disorders and then tested a treatment based on the discovery–successfully fixing donated…
Scientists Reveal How Mutations in Genes Give Rise to Face-Specific Birth Defects
About 1 in 750 babies born in the United States has some kind of craniofacial malformation, accounting for about one-third of all birth defects. Many…
International Team of Scientists Reveal a New Type of Botox
A new source of the botulinum neurotoxin was discovered by Canadian and American scientists in a strain of animal gut bacteria known as Enterococcus faecium….
Scientists Sequence Largest Genome to Date, the Axolotl Genome
A team of researchers led by scientists in Vienna, Dresden and Heidelberg has decoded the entire genetic information of the Mexican salamander axolotl. The axolotl…
Geneticists Fully Decode a New Genome for Regeneration Research
The planarian flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea is an extraordinary animal. Even when cut into tiny pieces, each piece can regenerate back into a complete and perfectly…
Breakthrough Discovery Reveals MSK1 Protein Keeps Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells Dormant
The time needed for breast cancer metastases (secondary lesions caused by cells that have escaped from the original tumour) to develop varies between patients, and…
New Technique Allows Scientists to Switch ATP Synthase On and Off Using UV Light
The enzyme complex ATP synthase is one of the most important molecular machines in the cell. It produces adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which serves as the…