UC San Francisco researchers recently captured exquisite images of a protein caught in the act of binding to a novel therapeutic drug with enough resolution to model how the individual atoms of the protein and drug lined ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 27, 2017
1
423
One way or another, many psychiatric drugs work by binding to receptor molecules in the brain that are sensitive to the neurotransmitter dopamine, a chemical signal that is central to how our experiences shape our behavior. ...
Biochemistry
Oct 19, 2017
0
27
The ability to selectively eradicate specific types of cells from multicellular organisms allows scientists to decipher those cells' functions, but the tools available to do so—whether surgical, chemical, or genetic—are ...
Biochemistry
Sep 12, 2017
0
167
When growing cells in the lab, researchers routinely add antibiotics to prevent contamination. But a new study by UC San Francisco researchers raises a red flag against this standard practice, finding that it can induce unintentional ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 29, 2017
0
61
As senses go, there's nothing so immediate and concrete as our sense of touch. So it may come as a surprise that, on the molecular level, our sense of touch is still poorly understood.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 4, 2017
0
266
A host of proteins and other molecules sit on the strands of our DNA, controlling which genes are read out and used by cells and which remain silent. This aggregation of genetic material and controlling molecules, called ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 23, 2017
0
170
Specialized cells in the gut sense potentially noxious chemicals and trigger electrical impulses in nearby nerve fibers, according to a new study led by UC San Francisco scientists. "These cells are sensors, like a window ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 22, 2017
0
8
In a major advance for fundamental biological research, UC San Francisco scientists have developed a tool capable of illuminating previously inscrutable cellular signaling networks that play a wide variety of roles in human ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 6, 2017
0
25
Sharks, rays and skates can hunt for prey hidden in the sandy sea floor by "listening" for faint traces of bioelectricity—they can literally sense their prey's heart beating. The basic anatomy of the electro-sensory organs ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 6, 2017
5
1165
The textbook description of chromatin, the condensed form DNA takes when it is not in use, consists of rigid building-blocks called nucleosomes, which act as spindles on which inactive DNA can be spooled and archived. But ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jan 23, 2017
0
710
