Cell membrane

hide

The cell membrane (also called the plasma membrane or plasmalemma) is the biological membrane separating the interior of a cell from the outside environment.

It is a semipermeable lipid bilayer found in all cells. It contains a wide variety of biological molecules, primarily proteins and lipids, which are involved in a vast array of cellular processes such as cell adhesion, ion channel conductance and cell signaling. The plasma membrane also serves as the attachment point for both the intracellular cytoskeleton and, if present, the extracellular cell wall.

For more information about Cell membrane, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with cell membrane

results timeline


Gold Nanoparticles Delivery Platinum Warheads to Tumors

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Oct 29, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 2

(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 ...


HIV tamed by designer 'leash'

Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS

created Oct 29, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

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 ...


Cholesterol-lowering medicines may be effective against cancer

Cholesterol-lowering medicines may be effective against cancer

Medicine & Health / Research

created Oct 27, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

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 s ...


The Physics Of A Bump In A Rug

The Physics Of A Bump In A Rug

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 20, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (7) | comments 0

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 ...


NEDD9 protein supports growth of aggressive breast cancer

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Oct 02, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

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 ...


Sternopygus macrurus

Electric fish plug in to communicate

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Sep 29, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

(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 ...


Nanoresearchers challenge dogma in protein transportation in cells

Nanoresearchers challenge dogma in protein transportation in cells

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Sep 21, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

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 ...


Cell discovery opens new chapter in drug development

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 08, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0

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.


The plant cell's corset

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Sep 02, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

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 ...


Finding the ZIP-code for gene therapy: Scientists imitate viruses to deliver therapeutic genes

Biology / Biotechnology

created Aug 31, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

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 transp ...


Researchers identify new, cancer-causing role for protein

Researchers identify new, cancer-causing role for protein

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Aug 27, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

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. ...


Major insights into evolution of life reported

Major insights into evolution of life reported

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 19, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (39) | comments 37

(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 ...


Breakthrough uses light to manipulate cell movement

Breakthrough uses light to manipulate cell movement

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Aug 19, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1

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 ...


Hepatitis C virus channels efforts into cell survival

Medicine & Health / Research

created Aug 17, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

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.


Discovery to aid study of biological structures, molecules

Discovery to aid study of biological structures, molecules

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Aug 11, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

(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 ...




more news »