Physical force alone spurs gene expression, study reveals

Cells will ramp up gene expression in response to physical forces alone, a new study finds. Gene activation, the first step of protein production, starts less than one millisecond after a cell is stretched—hundreds of times ...

How the brain controls the voice

Bats are famous for their sonar-based navigation. They use their extremely sensitive hearing for orientation, emitting ultrasound noises and receiving an image of their surroundings based on the echo. Seba's short-tailed ...

Scientists explore how females shut off their second X chromosome

Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and Institut Curie in Paris have shown that the protein SPEN plays a crucial role in the process of X-chromosome inactivation, whereby female mammalian ...

Designing and repurposing cell receptors

EPFL scientists have developed a computational method modeling and designing protein allostery that allows the accurate and rational engineering and even repurposing of cell receptors. The method can be a significant tool ...

Researchers discover molecular light switch in photoreceptor cells

How our eyes detect and respond to changes in light intensity is determined by specialized cells in the eye called photoreceptors. In addition to converting light into electrical signals, effectively allowing us to see, rod-shaped ...

3-D printing, bioinks create implantable blood vessels

A biomimetic blood vessel was fabricated using a modified 3-D cell printing technique and bioinks, which were formulated from smooth muscle cells from a human aorta and endothelial cells from an umbilical vein. The result ...

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