News tagged with lipid membranes

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

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

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

New device creates lipid spheres that mimic cell membranes

A new way of manipulating fluids on microscopic levels brings us one step closer to "bottom-up" artificial cell constructs.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Dec 16, 2011 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0

New membrane lipid measuring technique may help fight disease

Could controlling cell-membrane fat play a key role in turning off disease?

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Oct 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Multi-compartment globular structures assembled from polymer-based materials may soon serve as cell prototypes

The cell is a host of many complex reaction pathways. These pathways usually do not interfere with each other because they are contained within membrane-bound compartments, known as organelles. The lipid membrane is extremely ...

Chemistry / Polymers

created Sep 29, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Physicist detects movement of macromolecules engineered into our food

Toxin proteins are genetically engineered into our food because they kill insects by perforating body cell walls, and Professor Rikard Blunck of the University of Montreal's Group for the study of membrane proteins (GEPROM) ...

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Sep 12, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Microcantilevers are masters of measurement

(PhysOrg.com) -- Devices that look like tiny diving boards are a launching platform for research that could improve detergents and advance understanding of disease.

Chemistry / Analytical Chemistry

created Jun 01, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The connection between a cell's cytoskeleton and its surface receptors

New findings from researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto may shed light on the mechanisms that regulate the organization of receptors on the cell surface, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 06, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Scientists create cell assembly line

Borrowing a page from modern manufacturing, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have built a microscopic assembly line that mass produces synthetic cell-like compartments.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Mar 03, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (12) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study uncovers key mechanisms of cell communication

(PhysOrg.com) -- A unique bridging process may be behind a mystery of intracellular communication, according to new Cornell research published Feb. 4 in the journal Cell.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 07, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Controlled heating of gold nanoparticles

Tiny gold particles are good for transferring heat and could be a promising tool for creating localized heating in, for example, a living cell. In new experiments, German researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Jan 17, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast