News tagged with cell membrane

A cell's first steps: Building a model to explain how cells grow

A collaboration between Lehigh University physicists and University of Miami biologists addresses an important fundamental question in basic cell biology: How do living cells figure out when and where to grow?

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Copper pump's' potential benefit in cancer treatment

(Phys.org) -- A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has made new discoveries about a copper-transporting protein in the membranes of human cells that drug-discovery scientists can co-opt ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 17, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Research reveals novel transport mechanism for large ribonucleoproteins

The movement of genetic materials, such as RNA and ribosomes, from the nucleus to the cytoplasm is a critical component in a cell's ability to make the proteins necessary for essential biological functions. Until now, it ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cell membrane is patterned like a patchwork quilt

(Phys.org) -- As the interface between the cell and its environment, the cell membrane, which consists of fats and proteins, fulfils a variety of vital functions. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 05, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (13) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Unusual protein helps regulate key cell communication pathway

Charged atoms, or ions, move through tiny pores, or channels, embedded in cell membranes, generating the electrical signals that allow cells to communicate with one another. In new research, scientists have ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study resolves debate on human cell shut-down process

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have resolved the debate over the mechanisms involved in the shut-down process during cell division in the body.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 12, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Bioengineers develop artificial chip for testing how drugs interact with ion channels

(Phys.org) -- Ion channels, proteins embedded in cell membranes, are central to many of the human body's physiological processes, including cardiac activity. For this reason, they are also important targets for cardiac drugs. ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Apr 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Quantum dots provide quantitative profile of pancreatic cancer biomarkers on single cells

(Phys.org) -- With the aid of a novel set of lipid-coated, targeted quantum dots, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have developed a method for quantifying multiple specific biomarkers on the surfaces of individual ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Apr 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers present a shiny new tool for imaging biomolecules

At the heart of the immune system that protects our bodies from disease and foreign invaders is a vast and complex communications network involving millions of cells, sending and receiving chemical signals ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Mar 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cell protein interactions favor fats

For cells to signal each other to carry out their vital work, could the cell membrane's lipids -- or fats -- play a role in buttering-up the process? A research group led by University of Illinois at Chicago chemistry professor ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New findings awaken age-old anesthesia question

(PhysOrg.com) -- Why does inhaling anesthetics cause unconsciousness? New insights into this century-and-a-half-old question may spring from research performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Mar 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Fuel cells show potential

National Physical Laboratory scientists have developed an innovative fuel cell reference electrode that has been used to map changes in electrode potential inside a working polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Mar 20, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Another piece of the ion pump puzzle

From bacteria to humans, all cells use molecules of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as fuel to power a broad range of biochemical reactions. For example, massive multi-subunit enzymes known as V-ATPases convert ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Mar 16, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

New microfluidic chip can generate microbubbles to break open cells for biochemical analysis

Scientists have made many important discoveries in biology and medicine through studying the internal contents of cells. Some have isolated or identified nucleic acids or proteins with special functions, while ...

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Mar 15, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

How muscle cells seal their membranes

Every cell is enclosed by a thin double layer of lipids that separates the distinct internal environment of the cell from the extracellular space. Damage to this lipid bilayer, also referred to as plasma membrane, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 14, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Cell membrane

The cell membrane (also called the plasma membrane or plasmalemma) is the biological membrane separating the interior of a cell from the outside environment.

It is a semipermeable lipid bilayer found in all cells. It contains a wide variety of biological molecules, primarily proteins and lipids, which are involved in a vast array of cellular processes such as cell adhesion, ion channel conductance and cell signaling. The plasma membrane also serves as the attachment point for both the intracellular cytoskeleton and, if present, the extracellular cell wall.

For more information about Cell membrane, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: cells , protein , lipid , molecules , cancer cells