Scientists discover new anti-cancer molecule

A group of Moscow scientists has discovered and explained the activity mechanism of a new anti-cancer molecule—diphenylisoxazole. This molecule has been shown to be effective against human cancer cells. The research, published ...

The plus and minus of microtubules

Microtubules are protein polymers that assemble into dynamic structures, essential for cell division, shape, motility, and transport of intracellular cargos.

How our cellular antennas are formed

Most of our cells contain an immobile primary cilium, an antenna used to transfer information from the surrounding environment. Some cells also have many mobile cilia that are used to generate movement. The 'skeleton' of ...

Visualizing 'unfurling' microtubule growth

Living cells depend absolutely on tubulin, a protein that forms hollow tube-like polymers, called microtubules, that form scaffolding for moving materials inside the cell. Tubulin-based microtubule scaffolding allows cells ...

Newly discovered cytoskeleton helps cancer cells survive

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered a cytoskeleton which provides the structure for mitochondria, the cell's energy producers. The skeleton is necessary for the function of the mitochondria, but the researchers ...

Dynamics of microtubules

Filamentous polymers called microtubules play vital roles in chromosome segregation and molecular transport. An LMU team has now examined how microtubule lengths vary in response to changes in the availability of their protein ...

Molecular machine, not assembly line, assembles microtubules

When they think about how cells put together the molecules that make life work, biologists have tended to think of assembly lines: Add A to B, tack on C, and so on. But the reality might be more like a molecular version of ...

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