News tagged with plasma membranes

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

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

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

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

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

Learning secrets of world's most common organic compound driving research for biofuels

Preliminary research at Kansas State University may make a difference one day at the gas pump.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Aug 23, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Exosomal release of beta-catenin may explain why CD82 and CD9 suppress tumor metastasis

Researchers reveal a new way in which cells restrain beta-catenin and potentially suppress tumor metastasis: the protein can be ejected from cells in small vesicles called exosomes. The study appears online ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 13, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0