News tagged with plasma membrane

DGK-alpha helps cancer cells gain traction and mobilize

Metastasizing cancer cells often express integrins that provide better traction. A new study in The Journal of Cell Biology reveals how a lipid-converting enzyme helps the cells mobilize these integrins.

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Notre Dame researchers report fundamental malaria discovery

A team of researchers led by Kasturi Haldar and Souvik Bhattacharjee of the University of Notre Dame's Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases has made a fundamental discovery in understanding how malaria parasites cause deadly ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Jan 20, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists identify an innate function of vitamin E

It's rubbed on the skin to reduce signs of aging and consumed by athletes to improve endurance but scientists now have the first evidence of one of vitamin E's normal body functions.

Medicine & Health / Research

created Dec 20, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (16) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Researcher develops model to foster new drug development to treat pain and epilepsy

Drawing on X-ray crystallography and experimental data, as well as a software suite for predicting and designing protein structures, a UC Davis School of Medicine researcher has developed an algorithm that predicts what has ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Dec 12, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers uncover new function for cell master regulator

(PhysOrg.com) -- TORC1 is a master regulator in cells, playing a key role in such diverse processes as gene expression and protein synthesis. While previous studies have described the role that TORC1 plays ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Poor recycling of BACE1 enzyme could promote Alzheimer's disease

Sluggish recycling of a protein-slicing enzyme could promote Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published online on November 21 in The Journal of Cell Biology.

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study shows Alzheimer's disease-related peptides form toxic calcium channels in the plasma membrane

Alzheimer's disease is triggered by the inappropriate processing of amyloid precursor protein to generate excess amounts of short peptide fragments called A-beta. For many years, the neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer's ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 24, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

How plants sense touch, gravity and other physical forces

(PhysOrg.com) -- At the bottom of plants' ability to sense touch, gravity or a nearby trellis are mechanosensitive channels, pores through the cells' plasma membrane that are opened and closed by the deformation ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 21, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (15) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers unveil new method for detecting lung cancer

When lung cancer strikes, it often spreads silently into more advanced stages before being detected. In a new article published in Nature Nanotechnology, biological engineers and medical scientists at the ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Sep 15, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Learning secrets of world's most common organic compound driving research for biofuels

Preliminary research at Kansas State University may make a difference one day at the gas pump.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Aug 23, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Mechanism of sculpting the plasma membrane of intestinal cells identified

The research group of Professor Pekka Lappalainen at the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, has identified a previously unknown mechanism which modifies the structure of plasma membranes in intestinal epithelial ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

How killer immune cells avoid killing themselves

After eight years of work, researchers have unearthed what has been a well-kept secret of our immune system's success. The findings published online on June 9th in Immunity offer an explanation for how specialized immune ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Jun 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

The connection between a cell's cytoskeleton and its surface receptors

New findings from researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto may shed light on the mechanisms that regulate the organization of receptors on the cell surface, ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 06, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

New path to water efficient seeds opens as TIP pips PIP as water gatekeeper

Research by University of Warwick's School of Life Sciences has opened up a new path to produce water efficient seeds that will be a significant tool to cope with drought resistance, and ensure global food ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 24, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Nanotechnology may lead to new treatment of liver cancer

(PhysOrg.com) -- Nanotechnology may open a new door on the treatment of liver cancer, according to a team of Penn State College of Medicine researchers. They used molecular-sized bubbles filled with chemotherapy drugs to ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Feb 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cell membrane

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.