Cell Biology News and Research

Latest Cell Biology News and Research

Plankton could hold key for understanding link between ocean pollution and human health

Plankton may offer a way to monitor historical marine pollution trends, and could be used to predict trends in human health, according to new research.

10 Jan 2023

Marine plankton samples can help understand the link between ocean pollution and chronic illnesses

Using samples from an almost century-old, ongoing survey of marine plankton, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine suggest that rising levels of manmade chemicals found in parts of the world's oceans might be used to monitor the impact of human activity on ecosystem health, and may one day be used to study the connections between ocean pollution and land-based rates of childhood and adult chronic illnesses.

9 Jan 2023

Investigating the molecular mechanisms that govern cilia force sensing

Although the human body is superficially symmetric along the left–right axis, most internal organs, including the heart, lungs, liver, stomach, and brain, have noteworthy left–right asymmetries in their structure and placement.

6 Jan 2023

Novel insights into the elongation dynamics of eukaryotic cells

The proper functioning of numerous proteins generated in cells by ribosomes is essential for life. This diversified variety of proteins, called proteome, is sustained by the ribosomes’ vigorous translation elongation of amino acid sequences.

6 Jan 2023

Elucidation of mitochondrial membrane pore formation

Human metabolism depends on mitochondria, which are regarded as the power plants of cells. But since 40% of the proteins in the mitochondria are dysfunctional and are linked to human diseases, mitochondria also play a significant role in medical research.

6 Jan 2023

Researchers study how cells use their sense of touch to make decisions during embryogenesis

Building tissues and organs is one of the most complex and important tasks that cells must accomplish during embryogenesis.

6 Jan 2023

Researchers expand the known defensive abilities of CRISPR–Cas systems

Viruses can infect bacteria and archaea, just as they can humans. These microbes have evolved their own immune defense mechanisms to combat their pathogens. Bacterial defenses, like CRISPR-Cas systems, contain a variety of proteins and functions that aid bacteria in protecting themselves from foreign intruders.

5 Jan 2023

Discovery of a new cellular element crucial to sense of smell

Researchers at Umeå University have found an organelle, a previously unidentified cellular component, inside the neurons that are responsible for the ability to smell. The finding might have repercussions for future studies on COVID-19 symptoms like impaired smell sense.

5 Jan 2023

Orbit Discovery and SanegeneBio collaborate to identify targeting peptides for RNAi drugs

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From Orbit Discovery 5 Jan 2023

New technologies reveal cross-cutting breakdowns in Alzheimer’s disease

A figure from the paper depicts pathways perturbed in Alzheimer's disease. Below examples are listed for each pathway by major brain cell type. Image Credit: The Picower Institute.

4 Jan 2023

The detrimental effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy

For the first time, researchers at the University of Helsinki in Finland examined the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the epigenome and gene function of the placenta. The epigenome is a molecular coating on a DNA strand that controls how genes are expressed.

4 Jan 2023

UCR researchers decode the secret language of photosynthesis

For decades, scientists have been stumped by the signals plants send themselves to initiate photosynthesis, the process of turning sunlight into sugars.

3 Jan 2023

New technique provides an unlimited supply of patient-derived tissues to study AMD

Scientists used patient stem cells and 3D bioprinting to produce eye tissue that will advance understanding of the mechanisms of blinding diseases.

3 Jan 2023

Structure of the complete virion of S. epidermidis–infecting phage revealed

Scientists from the University of Alabama at Birmingham used cryo-electron microscopy to reveal the structure of a bacterial virus in extraordinary detail.

20 Dec 2022

Improving cancer immunotherapies with bioengineered synthetic gene circuits

In two distinct studies, scientists show how synthetic biology can be used to address a challenging problem in cancer immunotherapy: the way immunotherapy-related approaches focused on the short-term killing of tumor cells could fail to eradicate tumors because tumor growth occurs on longer timescales.

19 Dec 2022