Cell Biology

DNA-Guided Assembly Yields Novel Ribbon-Like Nanostructures
05/16/2013 - 12:31

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that DNA "linker" strands coax nano-sized rods to line up in way unlike any other spontaneous arrangement of rod-shaped objects. The arrangement—with the rods forming "rungs" on ladder-like ribbons linked by multiple DNA strands—results from the collective interactions of the flexible DNA tethers and may be unique to the nanoscale. The research, described in a paper published online in ACS Nano, a journal of the American Chemical Society, could result in the fabrication of new nanostructured materials with desired properties.

 

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Researchers measure oxygen consumption of individual cells
05/13/2013 - 10:25

How active a living cell is can be seen by its oxygen consumption. The method for determining this consumption has now been significantly improved by chemists in Bochum. The problem up to now was that the measuring electrode altered the oxygen consumption in the cell’s environment much more than the cell itself. “We already found that out twelve years ago,” says Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schuhmann from the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the Ruhr-Universität. “Now we have finally managed to make the measuring electrode an spectator.“ Together with his team, he reports in the “International Edition” of the journal “Angewandte Chemie”.

 

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Scientists Find Key to Gene-Silencing Activity
05/10/2013 - 10:28

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has found how to boost or inhibit a gene-silencing mechanism that normally serves as a major controller of cells’ activities. The discovery could lead to a powerful new class of drugs against viral infections, cancers and other diseases.

 

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Team Finds Dissimilar Proteins Evolved Similar 7-Part Shape
05/09/2013 - 09:31

Solving the structure of a critical human molecule involved in cancer, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found what they call a good example of structural conservation—dissimilar genes that keep very similar shapes.

 

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How modification of an enzyme governs critical processes in sexual reproduction
05/03/2013 - 08:08

The Research Group headed by molecular biologist Andrea Pichler from the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg has made an important discovery in meiosis research. Pichler and her group have identified a new mechanism that plays an important role in meiosis. Meiosis, also called reductional division, is a key process in sexual reproduction. It shuffles parental genetic material and thus guarantees genetic variety.

 

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Heart cells change stem cell behavior
05/02/2013 - 13:52

Stem cells drawn from amniotic fluid show promise for tissue engineering, but it’s important to know what they can and cannot do. A new study by researchers at Rice University and Texas Children’s Hospital has shown that these stem cells can communicate with mature heart cells and form electrical couplings with each other similar to those found in heart tissue. But these electrical connections alone do not prompt amniotic cells to become cardiac cells.

 

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