Decoding a key part of the cell, atom by atom

Whatever you are doing, whether it is driving a car, going for a jog, or even at your laziest, eating chips and watching TV on the couch, there is an entire suite of molecular machinery inside each of your cells hard at work. ...

Observing the secret life of molecules inside the cell

To understand how cells function, scientists study how their different components—from single molecules to multiple organelles—work together. Using traditional structural biology techniques, they can look at individual ...

How a large protein complex assembles in a cell

A team of ETH researchers led by Karsten Weis has developed a method that allows them to study the assembly process for large protein complexes in detail for the first time. As their case study, the biologists chose one of ...

Real-time monitoring of proteins in the nuclear pore complex

In human cells, the nucleus is enclosed by a structure called the nuclear pore complex (NPC). It acts as a 'gatekeeper' controlling the transport of molecules between the nucleus and the surrounding cytoplasm (the protein-containing ...

Nanocontainers introduced into the nucleus of living cells

An interdisciplinary team from the University of Basel in Switzerland has succeeded in creating a direct path for artificial nanocontainers to enter into the nucleus of living cells. To this end, they produced biocompatible ...

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