All Articles Tagged As: cells

Cells use import machinery to export their goods as well (6/26/2009)

Research suggests a new level of regulation for cellular export process by molecules previously assumed to be dedicated to import activities. ...> Full Article

Researchers explore how cells reconcile mixed messages in decisions about growth (6/24/2009)

Findings have implications for tissue engineering, understanding of tumor development ...> Full Article

A Canada-wide technology platform for mapping the human interactome (6/24/2009)

The Canada Foundation for Innovation announced the award of $9.16 million for the creation of a national technology platform aimed at mapping the human interactome. This national platform, headed by Dr. Benoit Coulombe, will not only provide Canadian researchers with new state-of-the-art equipment in proteomics, functional genomics and bioinformatics, but also bring together integrated infrastructure for deciphering the human interactome an expertise that, until now, has been spread in 12 universities across Canada. ...> Full Article

Cells are like robust computational systems, team reports (6/19/2009)

Gene regulatory networks in cell nuclei are similar to cloud computing networks, such as Google or Yahoo!, researchers report today in the online journal Molecular Systems Biology. The similarity is that each system keeps working despite the failure of individual components, whether they are master genes or computer processors. ...> Full Article

Back to basics: Scientists discover a fundamental mechanism for cell organization (5/25/2009)

At the MBL in Woods Hole, scientists discovered that cells use a very simple phase transition -- similar to water vapor condensing into dew -- to assemble and localize subcellular structures that are involved in formation of the embryo. ...> Full Article

Air-fueled battery could last up to 10 times longer (5/21/2009)

A new type of air-fueled battery could give up to ten times the energy storage of designs currently available.This step-change in capacity could pave the way for a new generation of electric cars, mobile phones and laptops. ...> Full Article

Using high-precision laser tweezers to juggle cells (5/16/2009)

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have developed a new method to study single cells while exposing them to controlled environmental changes. The unique method, where a set of laser tweezers move the cell around in a microscopic channel system, allows the researchers to study how single cells react to stress induced by a constantly changing environment. ...> Full Article

New fuel cell catalyst uses 2 metals (5/15/2009)

More efficient than commercial catalysts ...> Full Article

Key protein in cellular respiration discovered (4/12/2009)

Many diseases derive from problems with cellular respiration, the process through which cells extract energy from nutrients. Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now discovered a new function for a protein in the mitochondrion -- popularly called the cell's power station -- that plays a key part in cell respiration. ...> Full Article

Chemists create more efficient palladium fuel cell catalysts (3/23/2009)

Two Brown University chemists have overcome a challenge to fuel cell reactions using palladium catalysts. The scientists produced palladium nanoparticles with about 40 percent greater active surface area than commercially available palladium particles, and the nanoparticles remain intact four times longer. Results appear in the online edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. ...> Full Article

Protein structure determined in living cells (3/9/2009)

The function of a protein is determined both by its structure and by its interaction partners in the cell. Until now, proteins had to be isolated for analyzing them. Using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, an international team of researchers has now, for the first time, solved the structure of a protein within a living cell, the bacterium Escherichia coli. ...> Full Article

Scientists invent world's smallest periscopes (3/4/2009)

A team of Vanderbilt scientists have invented the world's smallest version of the periscope and are using it to look at cells and other microorganisms from several sides at once. ...> Full Article

Scientists eavesdrop on the exciting conversations within cells (3/1/2009)

Scientists have discovered the secrets of a sophisticated molecule that plays a role in many aspects of human health from fertility to blood pressure; digestion to mental health. This has opened up the potential for discovery of new drugs to treat an enormous variety of conditions. The team shows how the IP3 receptor arranges itself into clusters to help broadcast vital chemical messages around cells in the form of calcium. ...> Full Article

Artificial cells, simple model for complex structure (2/18/2009)

A simple, chemical materials model may lead to a better understanding of the structure and organization of the cell according to a Penn State researcher. ...> Full Article

Enzyme cocktail converts cellulosic materials, water into hydrogen fuel (2/15/2009)

Tomorrow's fuel-cell vehicles may be powered by enzymes that consume cellulose from woodchips or grass and exhale hydrogen. Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Georgia have produced hydrogen gas pure enough to power a fuel cell by mixing 14 enzymes, one coenzyme, cellulosic materials from nonfood sources, and water heated to about 90 degrees. ...> Full Article

Fuel cells: Making clean energy a reality (2/5/2009)

Driving a car that emits nothing but pure water. Running a laptop for 30 hours straight on a single charge. These scenarios may not be as bizarre or as impossible as you think. ...> Full Article

Phytoplankton cell membranes challenge fundamentals of biochemistry (2/4/2009)

In a new paper published in Nature, Benjamin Van Mooy, a geochemist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and his colleagues report that microscopic plants growing in the Sargasso Sea have come up with a completely unexpected way of building their cells. ...> Full Article

Researchers identify new function of protein in cellular respiration (2/1/2009)

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that the protein Stat3 plays a key role in regulating mitochondria, the energy-producing machines of cells. This discovery could one day lead to the development of new treatments for heart disease to boost energy in failing heart muscle or to master the abnormal metabolism of cancer. ...> Full Article

New catalyst paves the path for ethanol-powered fuel cells (1/27/2009)

A team of scientists at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Delaware and Yeshiva University, has developed a new catalyst that could make ethanol-powered fuel cells feasible. The highly efficient catalyst performs two crucial, and previously unreachable steps needed to oxidize ethanol and produce clean energy in fuel cell reactions. Their results are published online in the Jan. 25, 2009 edition of Nature Materials. ...> Full Article

Chemistry discovery brings organic solar cells a step closer (1/18/2009)

Inexpensive solar cells, vastly improved medical imaging techniques and lighter more flexible television screens are among the potential applications envisioned for organic electronics. Recent experiments at University of Toronto may bring these closer thanks to new insights into ways molecules absorb and move energy. ...> Full Article

Research team develops new way to fuse cells (1/6/2009)

MIT engineers have developed a new, highly efficient way to pair up cells so they can be fused together into a hybrid cell. The new technique should make it much easier for scientists to study what happens when two cells are combined. For example, fusing an adult cell and an embryonic stem cell allows researchers to study the genetic reprogramming that occurs in such hybrids. ...> Full Article

Researchers gain new insight on wonder of cell division (12/8/2008)

Basic research with roundworms provides a new view of protein interactions and up and down regulation ...> Full Article

Scientists discover cells reorganize shape to fit the situation (12/2/2008)

Understanding how internal cell skeleton changes may one day explain certain diseases ...> Full Article

Proteins strangle cell during division (11/30/2008)

New type of cell division discovered ...> Full Article

Tiny protein provokes healthy bonding between cells (11/30/2008)

Absence of this biological 'spark' linked to cancer's spread ...> Full Article

Engineers show how tiny cell proteins generate force to 'walk' (11/28/2008)

MIT researchers have shown how a cell motor protein exerts the force to move, enabling functions such as cell division. ...> Full Article

The bonsai effect: Wounded plants make jasmonates, inhibiting cell division, stunting growth (11/12/2008)

Researchers found that when leaves of the model plant Arabidopsis are wounded, cell division in the apical meristem is reduced, growth of the plant is arrested within days, and the new leaves grow to only one-half of their normal size although the size of leaf cells is unaffected. ...> Full Article

Signaling between protein, growth factor is critical for coordinated cell migration (11/11/2008)

Finding has significance for understanding how cancer spreads ...> Full Article

Solar power game-changer: 'Near perfect' absorption of sunlight, from all angles (11/4/2008)

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered and demonstrated a new method for overcoming two major hurdles facing solar energy. By developing a new antireflective coating that boosts the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and allows those panels to absorb the entire solar spectrum from nearly any angle, the research team has moved academia and industry closer to realizing high-efficiency, cost-effective solar power. ...> Full Article

Magic solar milestone reached (10/26/2008)

Researchers claim 25 percent solar cell efficiency title ...> Full Article

Scientists unwrap the elements of life (10/23/2008)

Researchers have taken a step forward in our understanding of how the fundamental building blocks of life are put together. ...> Full Article

Secret Lives of Catalysts Revealed (10/22/2008)

New window into nanoscale chemistry could help improve pollution control, fuel cell technologies ...> Full Article

New Solar Energy Material Captures Every Color Of The Rainbow (10/20/2008)

Researchers have created a new material that overcomes two of the major obstacles to solar power: it absorbs all the energy contained in sunlight, and generates electrons in a way that makes them easier to capture. ...> Full Article

Border control: Study shows how proteins permit entry to a cell (10/18/2008)

The means by which proteins provide a 'border control' service, allowing cells to take up chemicals and substances from their surroundings, whilst keeping others out, is revealed in unprecedented molecular detail for the first time ...> Full Article

Study specifies chemical pathway for ions through the cell membrane (10/15/2008)

Researchers have for the first time mapped a stepping-stone pathway of amino acids that these charged particles, or ions, follow across cell membranes. ...> Full Article

Stabilizing force for good communication between neurons and muscle cells found (10/12/2008)

Scientists have found what keeps unstable protein in proper conformation ...> Full Article

Cell protein suppresses pain 8 times more effectively than morphine (10/10/2008)

Researchers have discovered a new therapeutic target for pain control, one that appears to be eight times more effective at suppressing pain than morphine. ...> Full Article

Surface tension drives segregation within cell mixtures (10/7/2008)

What does a mixture of two different kinds of cells have in common with a mixture of oil and water? The same basic force causes both mixtures to separate into two distinct regions. ...> Full Article

Chemical 'orienteering': how accurately can cells follow a chemical trail to find their way around? (10/6/2008)

Study sheds new light on cells' ability to sense chemical gradients around them ...> Full Article

New technology paves the way for the future of identifying proteins inside cells (9/23/2008)

Researchers create a new technology which enables scientists to identify proteins by making a map of the energy flow inside the protein ...> Full Article

Rare Earth Elements Excite Protein Probes (9/1/2008)

Researchers hope to detect lanthanide reporter-tagged proteins at the single-molecule limit in living cells ...> Full Article

Molecular bridge serves as a tether for a cell's nucleus (8/14/2008)

Researchers have discovered a network of molecules in the nuclear membrane that provide the nucleus with rigidity and also facilitate a previously undiscovered form of communication between the cell's nucleus and its cytoplasm. ...> Full Article

A positive-feedback system ensures that cells divide (8/11/2008)

Research shows that a positive-feedback system ensures that a cell that has made the decision to divide finishes what it has started ...> Full Article

Hot peppers really do bring the heat (8/7/2008)

Chili peppers can do more than just make you feel hot ...> Full Article

Fueling the next generation of hybrid cars (8/2/2008)

Scientists have revolutionised the design of fuel cells used in the latest generation of hybrid cars which could make the vehicles more reliable and cheaper to build. ...> Full Article

Researchers run rings round cell division (7/12/2008)

Team shows that a protein ring is used to hold two sister copies of each DNA molecule together physically until they are ready to be segregated into each daughter cell after division. ...> Full Article

Dividing cells find their middle by following a protein 'contour map' (7/6/2008)

Self-organization keeps schools of fish, flocks of birds and colonies of termites in sync. It's also, according to new research, the way cells regulate the final stage of cell division ...> Full Article

Researchers are first to simulate the binding of molecules to a protein (7/2/2008)

Researchers have identified a key step in the cellular recycling of ATP that allows your body to produce enough of it to survive ...> Full Article

New probe may help untangle cells' signaling pathways (6/28/2008)

Researchers have designed a new type of probe that can image thousands of interactions between proteins inside a living cell, giving them a tool to untangle the web of signaling pathways that control most of a cell's activities. ...> Full Article

Supercomputer explores biochemical landscape to find memory switches (6/20/2008)

Researchers have now cataloged more templates of possible switches within a living cell than we use throughout our day. ...> Full Article

Fluorescent-Probe in Worm Creates Real-Time 'View' of Cellular Stress (6/19/2008)

Stretching of molecular "spring" induces color change ...> Full Article

Chemistry research builds on understanding electrocatalysis in fuel cells and corrosion (6/13/2008)

Researchers have developed a theory to advance fuel cell and corrosion prevention technologies. ...> Full Article

Sticky business: Researchers devise new way of mapping the viscosity of cells (5/25/2008)

A fluorescent dye can be used to map how viscous, or 'gloopy', different parts of a cell are ...> Full Article

Improved ion mobility is key to new hydrogen storage compound (5/19/2008)

A materials scientist has deciphered the structure of a new class of materials that can store relatively large quantities of hydrogen within its crystal structure for later release ...> Full Article

Researchers create new material for fuel cells (5/16/2008)

Increases power output by more than 50 percent ...> Full Article

A study reveals how cells communicate to activate the cell division machinery (5/7/2008)

The finding made in the fruit fly may provide clues to address problems such as the proliferation of malignant cells and tumour growth in humans ...> Full Article

Technique Accelerates Biological Image Analysis (5/7/2008)

Will Improve Automated High-Throughput Screening Techniques ...> Full Article

Researcher devises fuel that are more efficient cells, thanks to a new catalyst (5/6/2008)

Researcher has developed new materials that enable the manufacture of cheaper and more efficient methanol fuel cells ...> Full Article

Chemical Engineer Discovers Way of Increasing Battery Life with Environmentally Friendly Fuel Cells (4/23/2008)

Chemical engineering professor is exploring a way to increase battery life with an environmentally friendly alternative ...> Full Article

Biophysicist Develops Computer Model To Study Cell Membrane Dynamics (4/10/2008)

Computer model provides a new approach to simulating and observing membrane dynamics at a relatively large scale - hundreds of nanometers. ...> Full Article

Findings Could Improve Fuel Cell Efficiency (3/21/2008)

Researchers have developed a membrane that allows fuel cells to operate at low humidity and theoretically at higher temperatures. ...> Full Article

Researchers devise new cell-sorting system (3/17/2008)

Process could yield low-cost tool for diagnosing cancer, other diseases ...> Full Article

Biologists Identify Key Protein in Cell's 'Self-Eating' Function (3/13/2008)

Molecular biologists at the University of California, San Diego have found one piece of the complex puzzle of autophagy, the process of "self-eating" performed by all eukaryotic cells -- cells with a nucleus -- to keep themselves healthy. ...> Full Article

Newly defined signaling pathway could mean better biofuel sources (3/8/2008)

A newly defined biochemical pathway in plants may provide the scientific tools to design plants that will yield larger quantities of alternative transportation fuels than currently can be produced ...> Full Article

Researchers discover key for converting waste to electricity (3/4/2008)

Researchers studying bacteria capable of generating electricity have discovered that riboflavin (commonly known as vitamin B-2) is responsible for much of the energy produced by these organisms. ...> Full Article

Researchers obtain a snapshot clarifying how materials enter cells (1/8/2008)

A group of researchers has captured a key step in the metabolic process that allows materials, such as nutrients and drug treatments, to move in and out of cells. ...> Full Article

Active mechanism locks in the size of a cell's nucleus (12/26/2007)

Cells know that size matters, especially when it comes to the nucleus. In the early 1900s, German scientists first proposed that the size of a nucleus is always proportional to the size of its cell. Now, more than a century later, researchers at Rockefeller University show that an active mechanism controls this process. This mechanism, however, doesn't reside within the nucleus as many once thought, but instead comes from the cell's cytoplasm. ...> Full Article

Fundamental Discovery by Researchers Reveals How Fat is Stored in Cells (12/21/2007)

In discovering the genes responsible for storing fat in cells, scientists have answered one of biology's most fundamental questions. Their findings, could lead to new strategies for treating obesity and the diseases associated with it. ...> Full Article

Scientists Discover How Cells Build a 'Machine' for Cell Division (12/21/2007)

Using time-lapse photography and computer modeling, a team of researchers from Columbia, Yale and Lehigh Universities has explained a mystery surrounding the assembly of a cellular structure responsible for cell division, the vital process which enables living creatures to develop from embryo to adult. ...> Full Article

How Molecular Muscles Help Cells Divide (12/19/2007)

Time-lapse videos and computer simulations provide the first concrete molecular explanation of how a cell flexes tiny muscle-like structures to pinch itself into two daughter cells at the end of each cell division, according to a report in Science Express. ...> Full Article

Laser beam 'fire hose' used to sort cells (12/12/2007)

Could enable new kinds of biological research ...> Full Article

How cells keep in shape (12/6/2007)

Scientists elucidate a molecular mechanism that plays a key role in giving a cell its shape ...> Full Article

Microbial fuel cells turn on the juice (12/5/2007)

The combination of beer, wastewater, microbes, fuel cells, high school students and teachers sounds like a witches' brew for an old-fashioned, illicit '60s beach party. ...> Full Article

Unraveling cell communications is goal for mathematical biologist (11/15/2007)

Trillions of living cells in the human body are constantly communicating with each other through an exchange of chemical signals. Peter Thomas, assistant professor of mathematics, biology and cognitive science at Case Western Reserve University, is on a quest to find out how "cells make sense of the barrages of signaling molecules they encounter every day." ...> Full Article

Clean, carbon-neutral hydrogen on the horizon (11/14/2007)

Hydrogen as an everyday, environmentally friendly fuel source may be closer than we think. ...> Full Article

Scientists Discover Record-Breaking Hydrogen Storage Materials (11/13/2007)

Scientists at the University of Virginia have discovered a new class of hydrogen storage materials that could make the storage and transportation of energy much more efficient - and affordable - through higher-performing hydrogen fuel cells. ...> Full Article

Scientists Discover New Way To Make Water (11/2/2007)

In a familiar high-school chemistry demonstration, an instructor first uses electricity to split liquid water into its constituent gases, hydrogen and oxygen. Then, by combining the two gases and igniting them with a spark, the instructor changes the gases back into water with a loud pop. ...> Full Article

Fuel Cells Gearing Up To Power Auto Industry (11/1/2007)

The average price for all types of gasoline is holding steady around $2.95 per gallon nationwide, but the pain at the pump might be short-lived as research may eliminate one of the biggest hurdles to the wide-scale production of fuel cell-powered vehicles. ...> Full Article