Pluripotent cells can give rise to all cells of the body, a power that researchers are eager to control because it opens the door to regenerative medicine and organ culture for transplants. But pluripotency is still a black box for science, controlled by unknown genetic (expression of genes) and epigenetic signals (biochemical marks that control […]
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Monkey malaria breakthrough offers possible cure for relapsing malaria
A breakthrough in monkey malaria research by two University of Otago scientists could help scientists diagnose and treat a relapsing form of human malaria. Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals with more than 200 million cases annually, particularly in Asia, the Pacific and South America. Symptoms include fever, tiredness, […]
A better way to measure cell survival: New test rapidly evaluates the effect of drugs and potentially toxic compounds on cells
Measuring the toxic effects of chemical compounds on different types of cells is critical for developing cancer drugs, which must be able to kill their target cells. Analyzing cell survival is also an important task in fields such as environmental regulation, to test industrial and agricultural chemicals for possible harmful effects on healthy cells. MIT […]
Discovery casts doubt on cell surface organization models
Like planets, the body’s cell surfaces look smooth from a distance but hilly closer up. An article published in Communications Biology describes implications, unknown to date, of the way data from cell surfaces are normally interpreted; i.e. as if they lacked topographic features. When Earth is studied from space, its surface looks smooth, but on […]
Repeated interferon stimulation creates innate immune memory
The innate immune system may be able to be trained to react to viral infections more efficiently by repeated exposure to anti-viral signaling molecules. Mammalian cells seem to be able to memorize anti-viral stimulation at the level of DNA-packaging molecules, enabling faster and greater activation of anti-viral genes in subsequent stimulations, according to a study […]
New insight into the evolution of the nervous system
Pioneering research has given a fascinating fresh insight into how animal nervous systems evolved from simple structures to become the complex network transmitting signals between different parts of the body. The new study used simple multicellular organisms called Placozoa to reveal the beginnings of the nervous systems found in more complex animals. The international research […]
Particles surf their own waves, reveal how microbes and cells move through human body
Surf’s up for microbes swimming beside red blood cells. New calculations and experiments model for the first time how spherical particles submerged in gooey liquid travel along a flexible rubber sheet; comparable conditions are common in the human body, such as blood cells flowing through a capillary or the journeys of self-propelled microbes. (Although blood […]
New genetic regulators of regeneration identified: Discovery could one day lead to new therapies to trigger regeneration in humans
Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory and the University of Maine have discovered that genetic material in the cell that was previously thought to be “junk” because of its apparent lack of function likely plays a part in regulating genetic circuits responsible for regeneration in highly regenerative animals. Viravuth P. Yin, Ph.D., of the MDI […]
In apoptosis, cell death spreads through perpetuating waves
Inside a cell, death often occurs like the wave at a baseball game. What starts with two hands flung skyward prompts another, and another, until the wave has rippled far and wide across the whole stadium. This kind of a rolling surge, spurred by the activity of one or a few things, is known as […]