Cell & Microbiology news

Atomic-level Snapshot Catches Protein Motor in Action (w/ Video)

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

1hour ago | not rated yet | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The atomic-level action of a remarkable class of ring-shaped protein motors has been uncovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory using a state-of-the-art protein ...

Sponges against cancer

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

3 hours ago | not rated yet | 0

Deep under the sea, there's a battle of life and death going on, with no holds barred. Sponges and other marine animals which cannot move around might seem to be defenceless against predators. Yet nothing is further from ...

Dutch researchers make breakthrough in bioethanol production from agricultural waste

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

4 hours ago | not rated yet | 0

With the introduction of a single bacterial gene into yeast, researchers from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands achieved three improvements in bioethanol production from agricultural waste material: 'More ...

Research spawns new discoveries showing how crops survive drought

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 18, 2009 | 5 / 5 (4) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Breakthrough research done earlier this year by a plant cell biologist at the University of California, Riverside has greatly accelerated scientists' knowledge on how plants and crops can ...

New culprit for viral infections among elderly -- an overactive immune response

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 18, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found that exaggerated responses of the immune system explain why the elderly succumb to viral infections more readily than younger people. Published in the November ...

Researchers Examine How Viruses Destroy Bacteria

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 18, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Viruses are well known for attacking humans and animals, but some viruses instead attack bacteria. Texas A&M University researchers are exploring how hungry viruses, armed with transformer-like weapons, attack bacteria, which ...

New effort probes how two groups of viruses cause disease

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 18, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Purdue University is leading a team of researchers in a federally funded effort aimed ultimately at developing better vaccines and antiviral drugs against two types of disease-causing viruses ...

Bacterial 'ropes' tie down shifting Southwest

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 17, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (5) | 0

Researchers from Arizona State University have discovered that several species of microbes (cyanobacteria), at least one found prominently in the deserts of the Southwest, have evolved the trait of rope-building ...

Cross-country runabouts -- immune cells on the move

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 17, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- In order to effectively fight pathogens, even at remote areas of the human body, immune cells have to move quickly and in a flexible manner.

On your last nerve: Researchers advance understanding of stem cells

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 17, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

Researchers from North Carolina State University have identified a gene that tells embryonic stem cells in the brain when to stop producing nerve cells called neurons. The research is a significant advance ...

Simple test could offer cheap solution to detecting landmines

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 16, 2009 | 5 / 5 (6) | 0

Scientists have developed a simple, cheap, accurate test to find undetected landmines.

Investigating muscle repair, scientists follow their noses

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 16, 2009 | 4 / 5 (4) | 0

When muscle cells need repair, they use odor-detecting tools found in the nose to start the process, researchers have discovered.

The indefinite self-renewal of specialized cells without the need for stem cell intermediates

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 16, 2009 | 3 / 5 (2) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Is the indefinite expansion of adult cells possible without recourse to stem cell intermediates? The team led by Michael Sieweke at the Centre d'immunologie de Marseille Luminy, France has ...

Protecting the future: How plant stem cells guard against genetic damage

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 16, 2009 | 1 / 5 (1) | 0

Scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, have shown how plants can protect themselves against genetic damage caused by environmental stresses. The growing tips of plant roots and shoots have an ...

Slowing evolution to stop drug resistance

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 16, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Infectious organisms that become resistant to antibiotics are a serious threat to human society. They are also a natural part of evolution. In a new project, researchers at the University of Gothenburg are attempting to find ...

Watching Lyme disease-causing microbes move in ticks

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 16, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Lyme disease is caused by the microbe Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted to humans from feeding ticks.

How cells tolerate DNA damage -- start signal for cell survival program identified

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 16, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Cancer researchers of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have gained new insights into how cells react to DNA damage. Dr. Michael Stilmann, Dr. Michael Hinz and Professor Claus Scheidereit ...

Chromosomes dance and pair up on the nuclear membrane (w/ Video)

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

Nov 13, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (3) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Meiosis - the pairing and recombination of chromosomes, followed by segregation of half to each egg or sperm cell - is a major crossroads in all organisms reproducing sexually. Yet, how the ...