News tagged with plasma membrane

How plants sense touch, gravity and other physical forces

(PhysOrg.com) -- At the bottom of plants' ability to sense touch, gravity or a nearby trellis are mechanosensitive channels, pores through the cells' plasma membrane that are opened and closed by the deformation ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 21, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (15) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A second pathway for antidepressants: New fluorescent assay reveals TREK1 mechanism

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using a unique and relatively simple cell-based fluorescent assay they developed, scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Feb 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers unveil new method for detecting lung cancer

When lung cancer strikes, it often spreads silently into more advanced stages before being detected. In a new article published in Nature Nanotechnology, biological engineers and medical scientists at the ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Sep 15, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers uncover new function for cell master regulator

(PhysOrg.com) -- TORC1 is a master regulator in cells, playing a key role in such diverse processes as gene expression and protein synthesis. While previous studies have described the role that TORC1 plays ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Nanotechnology may lead to new treatment of liver cancer

(PhysOrg.com) -- Nanotechnology may open a new door on the treatment of liver cancer, according to a team of Penn State College of Medicine researchers. They used molecular-sized bubbles filled with chemotherapy drugs to ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Feb 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | 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

Mechanism of sculpting the plasma membrane of intestinal cells identified

The research group of Professor Pekka Lappalainen at the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, has identified a previously unknown mechanism which modifies the structure of plasma membranes in intestinal epithelial ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 01, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New path to water efficient seeds opens as TIP pips PIP as water gatekeeper

Research by University of Warwick's School of Life Sciences has opened up a new path to produce water efficient seeds that will be a significant tool to cope with drought resistance, and ensure global food ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 24, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Neuroscientists learn how channels fine-tune neuronal excitability

Scientists in the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, have discovered a new mechanism that nerve cells (neurons) use to fine-tune their electrical output. The exciting discovery, published ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Jan 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers show how cells open 'doors' to release neurotransmitters

Like opening a door to exit a room, cells in the body open up their outer membranes to release such chemicals as neurotransmitters and other hormones.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 14, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study finds new way deadly food-borne bacteria spread

University of Central Florida Microbiology Professor Keith Ireton has uncovered a previously unknown mechanism that plays an important role in the spread of a deadly food-borne bacterium.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 21, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (3) | 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

Research of cell movements in developing frogs reveals new twists in human genetic disease

Mutations in a gene known as "Fritz" may be responsible for causing human genetic disorders such as Bardet-Biedl syndrome, University of Texas at Austin developmental biologist John Wallingford and Duke University human geneticist ...

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Jul 30, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Retrovirus replication process different than thought

How a retrovirus, like HIV, reproduces and assembles new viruses is different than previously thought, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. Understanding the steps a virus takes for assembly could allow ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jul 15, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study shows Alzheimer's disease-related peptides form toxic calcium channels in the plasma membrane

Alzheimer's disease is triggered by the inappropriate processing of amyloid precursor protein to generate excess amounts of short peptide fragments called A-beta. For many years, the neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer's ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 24, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | 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