Every human cell is encased in a five-nanometer-thick lipid membrane that protects it from the surrounding environment. Like a gatekeeper, the membrane determines which ions and molecules can pass through. In so doing, it ...
Biochemistry
Apr 3, 2018
0
415
Bacteria and Archaea are two of the three domains of life. Both must have evolved from the putative last universal common ancestor (LUCA). One hypothesis is that this happened because the cell membrane in LUCA was an unstable ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 19, 2018
0
414
Researchers may be able to stop the replication of Ebola virus by mutating its most important protein, according to a paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Biochemistry
Mar 12, 2018
0
19
Technology has a massive impact on our day-to-day lives, right down to the cellular level within our own bodies. Texas A&M University chemists are using it to determine how lipids talk to each other when they interact with ...
Biochemistry
Mar 6, 2018
0
33
It had already been known that the enzyme known as phosphatidic acid phosphatase plays a crucial role in regulating the amount of fat in the human body. Controlling it is therefore of interest in the fight against obesity.
Biochemistry
Sep 18, 2017
0
669
Proteins in lipid membranes are one of the fundamental building blocks of biological functionality. Lawrence Livermore researchers have figured out how to mimic their role using carbon nanotube porins.
Biochemistry
Jul 7, 2017
2
1327
A cell's plasma membrane forms a protective barrier, separating its inner contents from the outside environment. There is a pressing need to better understand the complex lipid bilayer that makes up this membrane, which limits ...
General Physics
Jun 6, 2017
0
19
A research team from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has performed the first-ever direct nanoscale examination of a living cell membrane. In doing so, it also resolved a long-standing debate by identifying ...
Biochemistry
May 24, 2017
0
1883
Two biophysicists from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have used supercomputers to show how cell membranes control the shape, and consequently the function, of a major cancer-causing protein. The protein, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 4, 2017
0
8
Anesthesia induces unconsciousness by changing the function of proteins that reside on the surface of a thin membrane that forms a barrier around all cells, according to new research from Weill Cornell Medicine scientists. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 7, 2017
6
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