Today’s Popular Posts
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Tag Archives: cell biology
Reprogramming cells: The post stem cell future?
Sixth in a series of posts inspired by ten topics in ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine The topics are: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell reprogramming, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. The original articles are now behind a [...]
Posted in Impact: Stem Cells Also tagged cell reprogramming, DNA, embryonic stem cells, epigenetics, genetic modification, genetics, Gurdon, iPSC, pluripotent, proteomics, stem cells, Yamanaka Leave a comment
The microbiome: Our life in common with microorganisms
Fifth in a series of posts inspired by ten topics in ‘Insights of the Decade’ from the December 17, 2010 special issue of Science Magazine The topics are: Inflammation, climatology, tricks of light, alien planets, the microbiome, cell development, Martian water, the DNA time machine, cosmology and epigenetics. The original articles are now behind a [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Also tagged Archaea, bacteria, bacteriology, DNA, extremophile, genetics, hyperthermophile, immune system, microbiology, microbiome, microorganism, pathogen, thermophile, virome, Yellowstone 3 Comments
Discovery: An immune system within cells
The human body has a pretty good immune system. Because it’s so crucial to our health, scientists and doctors have been studying the immune system intensely for a long time. A good deal is known about it, even down to the molecular level. This study of the immune system, besides being good for a general [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged antibody, cytosol, immune system, protein, TRIM21, tripartite motif-containing, viral infection, virus Leave a comment
Histones: DNA packaging and much more
DNA winds around histones….Credit: Max Planck Society Most everybody knows that DNA is the carrier of the genetic code, the instructions for how life reproduces, grows, and maintains. Cell biologists have long known that DNA comes with a very complex packaging material, proteins called histones, which help the 2 meter (6 foot) strand of DNA [...]
Posted in Impact: DNA Decoding Also tagged biochemistry, DNA, epigenetics, fruit fly, gene, gene expression, histones, nucleus 1 Comment
New tool: Nanoneedle to the nucleus
For scientists, as for everybody else, it helps to see what’s happening. This is hard to do in the nucleus of a living cell. Standard techniques for watching the activity within the nucleus use dyes or protein markers. These work but tend to flood the nucleus with large molecules and disrupt the chemical activity. Recent [...]
Posted in News: Scientific Instruments Also tagged molecular biology, nanoneedle, nanotechnology, nucleus, scientific instrument Leave a comment
Stem cells: Myc does much more
To put it mildly, not thinking beyond assumptions can lead to surprises. This also applies to science. For many years scientists thought that the gene known as Myc (“mick”) plays a role in causing cancer – an oncogene – and that was all it did. It does play a role in cancer; Myc somehow lengthens [...]
Posted in Impact: Stem Cells Also tagged cancer, cell differentiation, GATA6, molecular biology, Myc, oncogene, pluripotent, protein, stem cell 1 Comment
New for epigenetics: Active pseudogenes and RNA as gene regulator
How is it that the human genome, with about 23,000 protein coding genes, can produce such a complicated organism as the human being, when the laboratory flatworm (C. elegans, a relatively simple organism) has about 20,000 coding genes? It seems fairly obvious that there must be something else at work in more complex organisms that [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Also tagged cancer, ceRNA, DNA, epigenetics, genome, microRNA, molecular biology, mRNA, proteins, pseudogene, PTEN, PTENP1, RNA Leave a comment
Small steps toward understanding the epigenome
“You can think of it this way,” said Ren. “Neurons and skin cells share the identical set of genetic material – DNA – yet their structure and function are very different. The difference can be attributed to differences in their epigenome. This is analogous to computer hardware and software. You can load the same computer [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Also tagged adult cells, chromatin, DNA, epigenetics, epigenome, fibroblasts, genetics, histones, mitochondria, nESC, nucleus, organic chemistry, RNA, stem cells 1 Comment
Discovery: Cell protein transport and an approach to cancer
The center of this story, in more ways than one, is the Golgi apparatus (pronounced ‘goal jee’). As a crude analogy, think of the Golgi apparatus as a re-packaging operation inside of living cells. It receives packages (called vesicles, which are like tiny bubbles) of proteins from the parts of the cell where proteins are [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Also tagged cancer, cell membrane, Golgi body, mitochondria, palmitoylation, palmostatin B, protein, proteomics, RAS, transport Comments closed
A new layer of genetic information: DNA sub-code
To some it sounds like something out of a spy story – sub-codes within the genetic code. Ah the hidden code; Dan Brown would be proud of the discovery. The actual discovery is perhaps not so thrilling, but potentially much more important than novelistic entertainment. Two researchers, Professor Yves Barral (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), and Dr. [...]
Posted in News: DNA Decoding Also tagged DNA, gene expression, genetics, molecular biology, regulation, RNA, sub-code, transcription, tRNA Leave a comment
Protein pathway competition regulates embryo development
One thing I’ve noticed in following scientific developments for a long time is that when something unexpected is discovered it very often adds to the complexity. Here’s a recent case in point, first, I’ll let a piece of the announcement speak for itself, and then I’ll explain the context: Until now, scientists believed these pathways [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Also tagged DNA, enzyme, genes, MAPK, microbiology, pathways, protein, proteomics Leave a comment
New: Single molecule sensor array
If there is a spectrum that can be detected by sensors, from very small to very big, then the sensor array built by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Cambridge, USA) can stake a claim for the very smallest – a single molecule. The array uses carbon nanotubes, which are rapidly becoming the [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged biomolecule, carbon nanotube, cell growth, hydrogen peroxide, nanobiology, nanomedicine, nanosensor Leave a comment
For RNA, the junctions dictate geometry
Did you know that RNA (ribonucleic acid) has an anatomy? In fact, it has anatomical properties that are sometimes analogous to the human body; especially joints. Just like human joints such as the elbow, knee, and shoulder allow bending but only in certain directions; RNA has ‘joints’ (junctions) in its chemical structure, and these too [...]
Prions: Not alive but they can evolve
Prions are mostly protein. Although protein is a fundamental component of living cell material, prions are not alive. The behave something like viruses, without DNA or RNA yet able to reproduce by forcing living cells to do the reproduction for them. Prions were hypothesized in the 1960’s (Alper and Griffith) but not discovered until 1982 [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged adaptation, DNA, evolution, mad cow disease, prions, protein Leave a comment
Explaining how a protein can perform multiple roles
It’s been known for more than a decade that some cell proteins can carry out multiple functions. For example, it was discovered in 1999 that the protein TyrRS (explained shortly) participated not only in the building of enzymes, but also could function to stimulate the growth of blood vessels. Discovering that the same protein could [...]
Posted in Impact: Cell Biology Also tagged amino acid, blood, molecular biology, proteins, tRNA Leave a comment
Basic finding: Proteins don’t need to unfold to change
We’re talking proteins in the cells of all living things. They don’t have to unfold to change shape. If that sounds cryptic, it’s because that finding is about some of the most fundamental processes of life, and we’re just beginning to learn about them. In this case, proteins – which are the building blocks of [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged amino acids, atomic chemistry, chemical pathways, DNA, folding, molecular biology, proteins, RNA Leave a comment
Study confirms telomere’s role in living longer
Confirmation is a vital part of the scientific process. In this case confirmation involves our knowledge of telomeres. We know that telomeres, the short strip of DNA found at the ends of chromosomes, play a big role in protecting the DNA from gene loss during the many replications within a cell. One of the 2009 [...]
Posted in News: Extending Lifespan Also tagged cancer, DNA, genetics, lifespan, living longer, old-age, replication, senescence, telomeres Leave a comment
Confusing maths
Cell biology is the only science in which multiplication means the same thing as division.
The race for safe stem cells
I’m loath to call anything in science a ‘race,’ since modern society is being overloaded with the race metaphor (politics, for example). There is the example of Watson and Crick racing the Pauling team to nail down the shape of DNA, but on the whole ‘racing’ in science is usually at-a-distance, not foot-to-foot. However when [...]
Posted in News: Stem Cells Also tagged biochemistry, cell, DNA, genes, iPS, stem cells Leave a comment
Forming the double helix – learning more about hybridization
Our knowledge of cell biology, of genetics, indeed of life itself has centered on the role of DNA. Yet since the structure of DNA was first elucidated by Watson and Crick more than fifty years ago, we are still attempting to explain the intricate processes involving DNA. One of these processes, DNA hybridization, is the [...]
Posted in News: Cell Biology Also tagged biochemistry, biology, DNA, double-helix, genes, hybridization, RNA Leave a comment
More molecular medical delivery
One of the most important areas of nanotech research and development is the area of nanoscale delivery systems for drugs and genetic material. Advances occur frequently. Here’s another one: Theresa M. Reineke, associate professor of chemistry in the College of Science, and colleagues in her lab at Virginia Tech and at the University of Cincinnati [...]
Posted in News: Nanomedicine Also tagged biochemistry, biomarkers, DNA, microbiology, nano-medicine, nanotechnology Leave a comment
Nanobeam: Monitoring cells from the inside