https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. How do bacteria regulate the production of their proteins? Researchers at the University of Hamburg, in collaboration with international partners, have now demonstrated how small protein building blocks, known as peptides, specifically influence bacterial protein production. The findings have been published in two articles in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ribosome-tunnel-interactions-reveal-bacteria.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:20:06 EDT news700143232 Imagine a train parked at the station. Passengers climb aboard and find their seats. Conductors move up and down the aisles, checking tickets. But there's a problem—the engineer's watch is broken. As a result, the doors never close, the whistle never sounds, and the train never starts. Something similar occurs in cells when developmental timing is disrupted. Rather than making people late for work, it can mean the difference between maturing into a healthy adult and never growing up at all. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-nonrepeating-biological-clock-elegans-growth.html Molecular & Computational biology Sun, 07 Jun 2026 06:40:01 EDT news700029701 Researchers at VIB, Ghent University, and VUB have uncovered how two proteins essential for immune cell development work together at the molecular level. The findings provide important insights into a critical mechanism that mediates the integration of molecular signals received from immunological threats. Their work appears in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-immune-cells-fine-tune.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 27 May 2026 15:40:02 EDT news699111541 A protein doctors routinely use to measure how aggressively tumors are growing may also help prevent the chromosome errors that drive cancer, new research by academics at Brunel University of London suggests. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-common-cancer-protein-therapeutic.html Molecular & Computational biology Sat, 16 May 2026 13:00:02 EDT news697904156 Cell division during the early stage of embryo development is a trade-off between speed and accuracy; the cells need to divide quickly to enable rapid growth, but it's important not to introduce errors that could be fatal to the developing embryo. But some stages of embryo development might be more tolerant of errors, coping with them without leading to complete failure. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-protein-illuminates-embryos-cope-disruptions.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:00:01 EDT news696771362 A study published in Cell Research advances a central idea in stem cell biology by identifying a checkpoint that controls the identity of many different types of stem cells across developmental stages. For nearly two decades, scientists have understood that stem cell self-renewal depends on blocking differentiation signals—a concept described in earlier work, including Qi-Long Ying and Austin Smith's 2008 Nature paper titled "The ground state of embryonic stem cell self-renewal." https://phys.org/news/2026-04-stemness-checkpoint-stem-cell-identity.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:00:04 EDT news694884782 A team led by principal investigators Bobo Dang and Ting Zhou at Westlake University/Westlake Laboratory have developed a high-throughput platform for engineering fast-acting covalent protein therapeutics. Their study, titled "A high-throughput selection system for fast-acting covalent protein drugs" published in Science, opens new avenues for next-generation biologics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-high-throughput-platform-fast-covalent.html Biotechnology Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:40:01 EDT news694436341 Often diagnosed when surgery is no longer an option, pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat and has one of the lowest rates of survival among major malignancies. Like many solid tumors, the most common type of pancreatic cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), is shielded by the desmoplastic matrix—a dense barrier of connective tissue, structural proteins, and specialized cells called cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs)—that also suppresses the immune response. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-tumor-cells-lipid-nanoparticles-advance.html Bio & Medicine Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:30:02 EDT news694194962 A metabolic enzyme studied for over seven decades has a hidden second function—it can unwind RNA and promote cell cycle progression, an additional function beyond its role in energy production, according to a new study led by the University of Surrey. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-sugar-enzyme-hidden-job-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:00:02 EDT news692883122 Immune checkpoint molecules play a crucial role in keeping the immune system in balance and preventing an attack on the body's own cells. Cancer cells can use these checkpoints to hide from the immune system, making them a key focus for treatments that boost the immune response against cancer. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are proteins that release this brake on the immune system and unleash our immune cells to attack tumors. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-inhalable-nanotherapy-advanced-melanoma-aims.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 05 Jan 2026 10:53:16 EST news686832771 Cancer immunotherapy, which uses drugs that stimulate the body's immune cells to attack tumors, is a promising approach to treating many types of cancer. However, it doesn't work well for some tumors, including ovarian cancer. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-nanoparticles-jumpstart-cells-ovarian-tumors.html Bio & Medicine Fri, 31 Oct 2025 06:00:04 EDT news681052662 Researchers at Leipzig University and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg have investigated a previously unknown process that occurs during protein synthesis in the cell. They examined how so-called adhesion G protein-coupled receptors (aGPCRs) split themselves into two parts. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-cleaving-receptors-cellular-quality-protein.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 08 Oct 2025 10:50:01 EDT news679138099 Certain types of biochemical processes can impair the immune system's ability to recognize and kill cancer cells. Purdue University's W. Andy Tao and his associates have developed a new way to study these processes. They demonstrated the validity of their method in experiments involving leukemia and rare liver cancer cell lines. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-method-probes-cancer-cell-messengers.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 18 Aug 2025 14:21:05 EDT news674745662 The human genome consists of 3 billion base pairs, and when a cell divides, it takes about seven hours to complete making a copy of its DNA. That's almost 120,000 base pairs per second. At that breakneck speed, one might expect errors to occur, and they do, at a rate of about two per second in every dividing cell. But cells have a "DNA repair kit" of enzymes that can correct those errors at a rate matching that at which they occur. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-cells-dna-toolbox-difficult-cases.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 04 Aug 2025 10:00:03 EDT news673518369 Proteins are the infinitely varied chemicals that make cells work, and science has a pretty good idea how they are made. But a critical aspect underlying the machinery of protein manufacture has long been hidden inside the nucleolus. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-artificial-nucleolus-reveals-ribosome.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 02 Jul 2025 11:00:27 EDT news670656302 Programmed cell death serves as a critical defense mechanism during viral infection. The kinases RIPK1 and RIPK3, central regulators of programmed cell death pathways, undergo precise modulation through various post-translational modifications. The ADP-ribosylation of RIPK1/3 has been documented, but the functional consequences of this modification on kinase activity and downstream cell death signaling remain elusive. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-reveal-mechanism-parp12-cell-death.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:12:02 EDT news668952721 The biological factory that produces reproductive cells has a robust quality control system to identify and eliminate eggs with chromosomal abnormalities. For years, cell biologists have sought to uncover the mechanisms behind this system, relying on traditional genetic tools. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-molecular-tool-bad-eggs-destruction.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 19 Dec 2024 13:22:01 EST news653836915 Programmed cell death-1, or PD-1, has become a headline-grabbing molecule best known for its role in cancer immunotherapies called checkpoint inhibitors. A study from Georgia Tech and Emory University researchers is offering an improved understanding of why these inhibitors work—and how to make them effectively fight cancer for more patients. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-physical-affects-cancer-treatment-explores.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 07 Nov 2024 12:27:05 EST news650204821 Researchers at Auburn University, in collaboration with scientists from the University of Basel and ETH Zurich, have made an advance in the fight against cancer. The team, led by Dr. Rafael Bernardi, Associate Professor of Biophysics in the Department of Physics, has developed a novel approach integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with molecular dynamics simulations and network analysis to enhance the prediction of binding sites on the PD-L1 protein. This breakthrough promises to accelerate the development of personalized cancer treatments by identifying critical interaction points in cancer-related proteins. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-ai-biophysics-approach-critical-interaction.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 05 Sep 2024 16:56:03 EDT news644774161 Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) is one of the primary methods of tumor immunotherapy. However, clinical data have shown that only a portion of patients respond to ICB treatment. Since the tumor's immune-suppressive environment plays a crucial role in ICB therapy, finding ways to effectively reshape this environment and increase the response rate to ICB treatment has become a key focus. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-metal-ion-linked-nanostructures-immune.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 29 Aug 2024 09:10:07 EDT news644141401 New research reveals that triggering a cell's DNA damage response could be a promising avenue for developing novel treatments against several rare but devastating viruses for which no antiviral treatments exist, possibly including human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes cancer. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-cellular-dna-response-pathways-disease.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 21 Aug 2024 10:26:04 EDT news643454761 A discovery regarding Mrc1 (Mediator of Replication Checkpoint 1)—a fission yeast protein involved in DNA replication—has been published in Cell. The discovery is the result of an international research collaboration, led by Professors Genevieve Thon and Anja Groth at the University of Copenhagen. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-international-team-key-protein-cells.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 13 Aug 2024 11:24:04 EDT news642767041 Yale researchers have uncovered a way to make a type of white blood cells known as natural killer cells—which kill infected, damaged, or malignant cells in the body—more effective against cancer. The approach, they say, could enable new treatments for solid tumors in the future. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-boosting-natural-killer-cell-cancer.html Biotechnology Tue, 25 Jun 2024 12:36:26 EDT news638537780 Many pancreatic tumors are like malignant fortresses, surrounded by a dense matrix of collagen and other tissue that shields them from immune cells and immunotherapies that have been effective in treating other cancers. Employing bacteria to infiltrate that cancerous fortification and deliver these drugs could aid treatment for pancreatic cancer, according to newly published findings from a team of University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-nano-drugs-hitching-bacteria-pancreatic.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 02 May 2024 15:03:04 EDT news633880982 The beginning of life is shrouded in mystery. While the intricate dynamics of mitosis are well-studied in the so-called somatic cells—the cells that have a specialized function, like skin and muscle cells—they remain elusive in the first cells of our bodies, the embryonic cells. Embryonic mitosis is notoriously difficult to study in vertebrates, as live functional analyses and imaging of experimental embryos are technically limited, which makes it hard to track cells during embryogenesis. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-unveiling-mysteries-cell-division-embryos.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 24 Apr 2024 10:40:18 EDT news633174009 Life sciences have never been more digital. To learn more about life processes, biologists are collecting massive quantities of data that computer scientists analyze by means of sophisticated computational models that they develop. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-machine-muscle.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 11 Apr 2024 11:52:05 EDT news632055121 A research team led by Prof. Huang Qing from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed DNA-aptamer-based surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) probes to study immune system biomarker-related bioprocesses in cancer cell metabolism. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-nanoprobes-cell-deathrelated-bioprocesses.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 18 Mar 2024 10:02:03 EDT news629974921 Wageningen researchers have discovered a molecular self-destruct mechanism in a bacterium living on seaweed. With this mechanism the bacteria sacrifice themselves when they are infected, thus protecting their brothers and sisters from infections. By reprogramming this mechanism, researchers aim to utilize it in diagnostic (self-)tests. The study is published in Science. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-newly-bacterial-defense-functions-destruct.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 16 Feb 2024 10:10:09 EST news627300602 Cancer cells can evade the body's immune defenses by exploiting a normally helpful and ubiquitous group of molecules known as mucins. Now, Stanford researchers have engineered a biomolecule that removes mucins specifically from cancer cells—a discovery that could play a significant role in future therapies for cancer. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-bioengineered-tool-unmasks-cancer-cells.html Biotechnology Thu, 10 Aug 2023 15:30:37 EDT news610900229 A potent anti-cancer therapy has been created using Nobel prize-winning "click chemistry," where molecules click together like LEGO bricks, in a new study by UCL and Stanford University researchers. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-potent-anti-cancer-therapy-click-chemistry.html Biochemistry Mon, 24 Jul 2023 12:55:49 EDT news609422143