http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. It turns out that wearing a cap is good for you, at least if you are a mammal cell. http://www.physorg.com/news179003738.html Biology Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:50:02 EST news179003738 Before one of your muscles can twitch, before the thought telling it to flex can race down your nerve, a tiny floodgate of sorts -- called an ion channel -- must open in the surface of each cell in these organs to let in the chemical signals that spur the cell to action. New research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has allowed scientists to observe ion channels within the surface membrane for the first time, potentially offering insights for future drug development. http://www.physorg.com/news178979870.html Chemistry Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:38:21 EST news178979870 (PhysOrg.com) -- Since the discovery in 2007 that a component of human semen called SEVI boosts infectivity of the virus that causes AIDS, researchers have been trying to learn more about SEVI and how it works, in hopes of thwarting its infection-promoting activity. http://www.physorg.com/news177859237.html Chemistry Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:21:15 EST news177859237 (PhysOrg.com) -- The genesis of one the planet's most lethal viruses, HIV, has been caught on tape. New imaging experiments show individual HIV genomes -- strands of RNA - docking on the inner membrane of an infected cell wall as they are ensconced by HIV structural proteins. http://www.physorg.com/news177696439.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:07:49 EST news177696439 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cisplatin is one of the most powerful and effective drugs for treating a wide variety of cancers, but serious side effects ultimately limit the drug's use and effectiveness. Now, however, researchers have developed a nanoparticulate formulation of cisplatin that may be able to eliminate or reduce platinum-associated toxicity while boosting cisplatin's tumor-killing activity. http://www.physorg.com/news176060990.html Nanotechnology Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:50:19 EST news176060990 Researchers have shown how an antiviral protein produced by the immune system, dubbed tetherin, tames HIV and other viruses by literally putting them on a leash, to prevent their escape from infected cells. The insights reported in the October 30th issue of the journal Cell allowed the research team to design a completely artificial protein -- one that did not resemble native tetherin in its sequence at all -- that could nonetheless put a similar stop to the virus. http://www.physorg.com/news176041913.html Medicine & Health Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:32:33 EST news176041913 Millions of people around the world use medicines based on statins to lower their blood cholesterol, but new research from the University of Gothenburg, published in the prestigious journal PNAS, shows that statins may also be effective in the treatment of cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news175861810.html Medicine & Health Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:00:04 EST news175861810 Scientists often have to make sacrifices for their work. Physicist Dominic Vella chopped his bathroom rug into strips, and L. Mahadevan's coauthor ran off with his bookshelf. With these sacrifices, these two teams were able to glean enough information to revolutionize the world's understanding about the physics of lumpy carpets. http://www.physorg.com/news175284653.html Physics Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:12:35 EST news175284653 Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have demonstrated that a protein called NEDD9 may be required for some of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer to grow. Their findings, based on the study of a mouse model of breast cancer, are presented in a recent issue of Cancer Research, available on-line now. http://www.physorg.com/news173703911.html Medicine & Health Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:05:44 EST news173703911 (PhysOrg.com) -- Just as people plug in to computers, smart phones and electric outlets to communicate, electric fish communicate by quickly plugging special channels into their cells to generate electrical impulses, University of Texas at Austin researchers have discovered. http://www.physorg.com/news173418765.html Biology Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:53:16 EST news173418765 New data on signaling proteins, called G proteins, may prove important in fighting diseases such as cardiovascular, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. For many decades scientists have puzzled on "How signaling proteins transport and organize in specific areas of the cell?" Researchers from Nano-Science Center and Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, provide yet unrecognized clues to solve this mystery. http://www.physorg.com/news172769341.html Chemistry Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:40:05 EST news172769341 Scientists have uncovered new details about how the cells in our bodies communicate with each other and their environment: findings that are of fundamental importance to human biology. http://www.physorg.com/news171611963.html Biology Tue, 08 Sep 2009 06:59:54 EST news171611963 We still have a lot to discover about the mechanism in plants that ensures cell growth in a specific direction. However it is clear that a structure of parallel protein tubes plays an important role. Simon Tindemans investigated this structure during his doctoral research at the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, The Netherlands. According to him small 'catastrophic collisions' are a crucial part of the process leading to its creation. http://www.physorg.com/news171136989.html Biology Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:40:01 EST news171136989 A research report featured on the cover of the September 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal describes how Australian scientists developed a new gene therapy vector that uses the same machinery that viruses use to transport their cargo into our cells. As a result of this achievement, therapeutic DNA can be transferred to a cell's nucleus far more efficiently than in the past, raising hopes for more effective treatment of genetic disorders and some types of cancers. http://www.physorg.com/news170938216.html Biology Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:00:01 EST news170938216 The mainstay immune system protein TRAF6 plays an unexpected, key role activating a cell signaling molecule that in mutant form is associated with cancer growth, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Aug. 28 edition of Science. http://www.physorg.com/news170602213.html Medicine & Health Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:20:02 EST news170602213 (PhysOrg.com) -- Humans might not be walking the face of the Earth were it not for the ancient fusing of two prokaryotes -- tiny life forms that do not have a cellular nucleus. UCLA molecular biologist James A. Lake reports important new insights about prokaryotes and the evolution of life in the Aug. 20 advance online edition of the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news169907476.html Biology Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:20:01 EST news169907476 One of the biggest challenges in scientists' quest to develop new and better treatments for cancer is gaining a better understanding of how and why cancer spreads. Recent breakthroughs have uncovered how different cellular proteins are turned 'on' or 'off' at the molecular level, but much remains to be understood about how protein signaling influences cell behavior. http://www.physorg.com/news169906799.html Chemistry Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:20:31 EST news169906799 Researchers at the University of Leeds have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that allows the hepatitis C virus (HCV) to remain in the body for decades. http://www.physorg.com/news169741163.html Medicine & Health Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:19:51 EST news169741163 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in the United States and Spain have discovered that a tool widely used in nanoscale imaging works differently in watery environments, a step toward better using the instrument to study biological molecules and structures. http://www.physorg.com/news169224439.html Nanotechnology Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:40:01 EST news169224439 With the information explosion, it's remarkable that so little is known about the interactions that proteins have with each other and the protective membrane that surrounds a cell. These interactive, so-called membrane proteins regulate nutrients and water fluxes, sense environmental threats, and are the communications interface with neighboring cells and within the cell. http://www.physorg.com/news168788988.html Chemistry Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:50:21 EST news168788988 (PhysOrg.com) -- Yale University researchers have discovered how a protein within most cell membranes helps maintain normal cell size, a breakthrough in basic biology that has implications for a variety of diseases such as sickle cell anemia and disorders of the nervous system. http://www.physorg.com/news168788102.html Biology Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:36:25 EST news168788102 A higher density of blood vessels and other unique physiological features in the flight muscles of bar-headed geese allow them to do what even the most elite of human athletes struggle to accomplish - assert energy at high altitudes, according to a new UBC study. http://www.physorg.com/news168030246.html Biology Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:10:01 EST news168030246 Understanding the structure of proteins is a vital first step in developing new drugs, but to date, researchers have had difficulty studying the large number of proteins that are normally embedded in the cell membrane, a family of proteins that includes those involved in cancer-related signaling processes. However, using nanoparticles, scientists from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom have found a way to preserve membrane proteins intact, enabling detailed analysis of their structure, molecular functions, and interaction with potential anticancer agents. http://www.physorg.com/news167412954.html Nanotechnology Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:40:01 EST news167412954 A new study by scientists at the University of Iowa shows why muscle membranes don't rupture when healthy people exercise. http://www.physorg.com/news167578418.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:34:04 EST news167578418 Applying biological molecules from cell membranes to the surfaces of artificial materials is opening peepholes on the very basics of cell-to-cell interaction. http://www.physorg.com/news167488713.html Nanotechnology Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:39:11 EST news167488713 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the bustling economy of the cell, little bubbles called vesicles serve as container ships, ferrying cargo to and from the port - the cell membrane. Some of these vesicles, called post-Golgi vesicles, export cargo made by the cell`s protein factory. http://www.physorg.com/news165846340.html Biology Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:26:32 EST news165846340 Research suggests a new level of regulation for cellular export process by molecules previously assumed to be dedicated to import activities. http://www.physorg.com/news165152678.html Biology Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:45:06 EST news165152678 An enzyme known to play a key role in the development of emphysema serves as the first line of defense against bacterial infection of the lung, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. They also found that the antimicrobial activity comes from a small portion of the enzyme that is structurally and sequentially unique in nature. http://www.physorg.com/news164464613.html Medicine & Health Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:10:10 EST news164464613 The genome of complex organisms is stashed away inside each cell's nucleus, a little like a sovereign shielded from the threatening world outside. The genome cannot govern from its protective chamber, however, without knowing what's going on in the realm beyond and having the ability to project power there. Guarding access to the nuclear chamber is the job of large, intimidating gatekeepers known as nuclear pore complexes (NPCs), which stud the nuclear membrane, filtering all of the biochemical information passing in or out. In new research, scientists have for the first time glimpsed in three dimensions an entire subcomplex of the NPC; it's the key building block of this little understood and evolutionarily ancient structure, an innovation fundamental to the development of nearly all multicellular life on earth. http://www.physorg.com/news163599774.html Biology Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:24:31 EST news163599774 Scientists may need to rethink the design of drugs meant to block HIV from infecting human cells, according to a study that appears in the May 1st issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication. That's because the new report shows that HIV doesn't enter cells in the way that experts had generally assumed it did. http://www.physorg.com/news160316570.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:23:27 EST news160316570