Related topics: stem cells · cells

The young sperm, poised for greatness

In the body, a skin cell will always be skin, and a heart cell will always be heart. But in the first hours of life, cells in the nascent embryo become totipotent: they have the incredible flexibility to mature into skin, ...

Protein team produces molecular barrels

Research groups headed by Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Pfanner, Dr. Nils Wiedemann, and Dr. Thomas Becker from the University of Freiburg and their colleagues have demonstrated how molecular protein barrels form in the outer membrane ...

Conversion from bad fat to good fat

Scientists from ETH Zurich in Switzerland have shown for the first time that brown and white fat cells in a living organism can be converted from one cell type to the other. Their work, using mice as a model organism, provides ...

Knowing how brown fat cells develop may help fight obesity

Brown fat is a hot topic, pardon the pun. Brown fats cells, as opposed to white fat cells, make heat for the body, and are thought to have evolved to help mammals cope with the cold. But, their role in generating warmth might ...

How cells optimize the functioning of their power plants

Mitochondria, which are probably derived from distant bacterial ancestors incorporated into our cells, have their own DNA. However, we know little about how these organelles, which convert oxygen and consumed nutrients into ...

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