Subcellular structures are distinct, spatially organized physical systems within cells, encompassing membrane-bound organelles (e.g., mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes), non-membranous bodies (e.g., ribosomes, cytoskeleton, centrosomes), and specialized compartments (e.g., nucleolus, stress granules). They are defined by specific molecular compositions, biophysical properties, and emergent functions such as energy transduction, macromolecular synthesis, intracellular trafficking, signal transduction, and mechanical support. As physical systems, they exhibit dynamic self-assembly, phase separation, and regulated turnover, and their organization is governed by principles of thermodynamics, molecular crowding, and active processes driven by nucleotide hydrolysis and cytoskeletal forces.
Drugs made of mRNA have the potential to transform medicine—if only they could get into cells in one piece. Now, University of Connecticut researchers have shown that packaging mRNA like a virus could smuggle it into cells ...
Bio & Medicine
Feb 23, 2026
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22
Passing on fundamental life lessons from parent to offspring is not unique to humans and animals. Ferns do it too. Not with words, but through pressure. By applying force at precisely the right locations, a fern tells its ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 20, 2026
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23
Ribosomes, the cell's protein-making factories, consume large amounts of energy as they build the proteins that keep cells alive and functioning. When cells experience stress—such as lack of nutrients or sudden drops in temperature—they ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 20, 2026
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62
An international team of scientists has discovered that a small, low-abundance protein plays a surprisingly big role in assembling carboxysomes—specialized bacterial microcompartments that enable efficient carbon fixation ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 12, 2026
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39
When a cell divides, it performs a feat of microscopic choreography—duplicating its DNA and depositing it into two new cells. The spindle is the machinery behind that process: It latches onto chromosomes (where DNA is stored) ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 11, 2026
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69
Constructed with tubulin heterodimers connected into a hollow cylinder, the microtubule, an essential component of the cytoskeleton, plays a vital role in various intracellular processes. In a recent study, a cross-disciplinary ...
Biotechnology
Feb 9, 2026
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14
The nuclear envelope (NE) is a dynamic and selective barrier that organizes genome function and nucleocytoplasmic communication, and its structural deterioration is a hallmark of aging associated with diverse human diseases. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 9, 2026
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64
A Northwestern Medicine study has shed light on one of the most intricate construction projects in biology: how cells build and coordinate the internal scaffolding needed to create a healthy egg. The research, published in ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 7, 2026
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205
Two-dimensional (2D) materials, in general, allow the realization of unique quantum phenomena unattainable in the common three-dimensional (3D) world. A prime example is graphene. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have ...
Condensed Matter
Feb 6, 2026
0
61
For decades, scientists assumed that order drives efficiency. Yet in the bustling machinery of mitochondria—the organelles that crank out adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the universal "energy currency" of cells—one of the most ...
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 6, 2026
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