Cells in Biological News

Bladder cells feel stretch

Japanese research group led by Prof. Makoto Tominaga and Dr. Takaaki Sokabe (National Institute for Physiological Sciences: NIPS), and Prof. Masayuki Takeda, Dr. Isao Araki and Dr. Tsutomu Mochizuki (Yamanashi Univ.), found that bladder urothelial cells have a sensor for stretch stimulation. Their...

Methods for gene transfer in stem cells featured in Cold Spring Harbor Protocols

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. (Wed., Aug. 5, 2009) Vectors derived from retroviruses are useful tools for long-term gene transfer because they allow stable integration of transgenes and propagation into daughter cells. Lentiviral vectors are preferred because they can transduce non-proliferating ce...

Protecting cells from their neighbors

Almost all organisms evolve from a single cell, a fertilised egg. In the first hours after fertilisation, the fate of its future development is determined. It is dictated by the separation of cells that will become sperm and ovules - germ cells-, from the remaining cells, which will be responsible...

Reprogramming human cells without inserting genes

WORCESTER, Mass. A research team comprised of faculty at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's (WPI) Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center (LSBC) and investigators at CellThera, a private company also located at the LSBC, has discovered a novel way to turn on stem cell genes in human fibroblasts (s...

Placenta-derived stem cells may help sufferers of lung diseases

Tampa, Fla. (July 27, 2009) An Italian research team, publishing in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (18:4), which is now available on-line without charge at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/ct , has found that stem cells derived from human placenta may ultimately play a role...

Airway cells use 'tasting' mechanism to detect and clear harmful substances

The same mechanism that helps you detect bad-tasting and potentially poisonous foods may also play a role in protecting your airway from harmful substances, according to a study by scientists at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. The findings could help explai...

Scientists link immune system's natural killer cells to infant liver disease

CINCINNATI Scientists have linked an overactive response by one of the immune system's key weapons against infection natural killer, or NK, cells to the onset of biliary atresia in infants, a disease where blocked bile ducts can cause severe liver damage and death. Researchers at Cincinnati ...

Scientists track chemical changes in cells as they endure extreme conditions

One of nature's most gripping feats of survival is now better understood. For the first time, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory observed the chemical changes in individual cells that enable them to survive conditions that should kill them. The...

Protein can help cells or cause cancer, Purdue researcher finds

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue University scientist has discovered a key process in cell growth that can lead to the formation of tumors. Xiaoqi Liu, an assistant professor of biochemistry, found that an overabundance of the polo-like kinase 1, or Plk1, molecule during cell growth, as well as ...

'Normal' cells far from cancer give nanosignals of trouble

A new Northwestern University-led study of human colon, pancreatic and lung cells is the first to report that cancer cells and their non-cancerous cell neighbors, although quite different under the microscope, share very similar structural abnormalities on the nanoscale level. The findings, ob...

Fate in fly sensory organ precursor cells could explain human immune disorder

HOUSTON (June 21, 2009) Notch signaling helps determine the fate of a number of different cell types in a variety of organisms, including humans. In an article that appears in the current issue of Nature Cell Biology , researchers at Baylor College of Medicine report that a new finding about th...

Caltech researchers explore how cells reconcile mixed messages in decisions about growth

PASADENA, Calif.The cells in our body are constantly receiving mixed messages. For instance, an epithelial cell might be exposed to one signal telling it to divide and, simultaneously, another telling it to stop dividing. Understanding the process by which these competing environmental cues are re...

Peripheral nerve repair with fat precursor cells led to wider nerves and less muscle atrophy

Tampa, Fla. (June 16, 2009) To determine if guided fat (adipose) precursor cells (APCs) could improve nerve regeneration and functional recovery, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh (USA) used biodegradable nerve guides to transplant APCs into the injured peripheral nerves of laboratory r...

New method separates cancer cells from normal cells

The vast majority of cancer deaths are due to metastasis, the spread of cancer cells from its primary site to other parts of the body. These metastatic cells tend to move more than their non-metastatic variants but this movement is poorly understood. Scientists are studying cancer cells intently w...

Jefferson receives $1.7 million grant to study stem cells in intervertebral discs of the spine

(PHILADELPHIA) Scientists at Jefferson Medical College have received a five-year, $1.7 million National Institutes of Health grant funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to study mechanisms regulating stem cell self-renewal and differentiation with the...

Engineered pig stem cells bridge the mouse-human gap

The discovery that adult skin cells can be 'reprogrammed' to behave like stem cells has been a major scientific boon, providing a way to tap the potential of embryonic stem cells without the associated ethical quandaries. Now, in a study appearing online in JBC, researchers have created a line of ...

Genetically corrected blood cells obtained from skin cells from Fanconi anemia patients

A collaboration research carried out by the teams of Jordi Surralls, Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona (UAB); Juan Carlos Izpisa-Belmonte and ngel Raya, Centre for Regenerative Medicine of Barcelona (CMRB); and Juan Antonio Bueren, Centre for Energetic, Environmental and Technological Research (CIE...

Scientists explain how 'death receptors' designed to kill our cells may make them stronger

It turns out that from the perspective of cell biology, Nietzsche may have been right after all: that which does not kill us does make us stronger. In a review article published in the June 2009 print issue of The FASEB Journal ( http://www.fasebj.org ), scientists from the Mayo Clinic explain h...

Adult bone marrow stem cells injected into skeletal muscle can repair heart tissue

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- University at Buffalo researchers have demonstrated for the first time that injecting adult bone marrow stem cells into skeletal muscle can repair cardiac tissue, reversing heart failure. Using an animal model, the researchers showed that this non-invasive procedure increased...

Activated stem cells in damaged lungs could be first step toward cancer

DURHAM, N.C. Stem cells that respond after a severe injury in the lungs of mice may be a source of rapidly dividing cells that lead to lung cancer, according to a team of American and British researchers. "There are chemically resistant, local-tissue stem cells in the lung that only activate...

How an enzyme tells stem cells which way to divide

Driving Miranda, a protein in fruit flies crucial to switch a stem cell's fate, is not as complex as biologists thought, according to University of Oregon biochemists. They've found that one enzyme (aPKC) stands alone and acts as a traffic cop that directs which roads daughter cells will take. ...

Flow of potassium into cells implicated in schizophrenia

A study on schizophrenia has implicated machinery that maintains the flow of potassium in cells and revealed a potential molecular target for new treatments. Expression of a previously unknown form of a key such potassium channel was found to be 2.5 fold higher than normal in the brain memory hub ...

When cells reach out and touch

MicroRNAs are single-stranded snippets that, not long ago, were given short shrift as genetic junk. Now that studies have shown they regulate genes involved in normal functioning as well as diseases such as cancer, everyone wants to know: What regulates microRNAs? Scientists at Johns Hopkins we...

Stanford scientists turn adult skin cells into muscle and vice versa

In a study featured on the cover of the May issue of The FASEB Journal , researchers describe how they are able to reprogram human adult skin cells into other cell types in order to decipher the elusive mechanisms underlying reprogramming. To demonstrate their point, they transformed human skin c...

Center to investigate plant cells for better biomass fuels

Cutting edge approaches and methodology employed by plant and molecular biologists, chemists, physicists, material scientists, computational modelers and engineers will be applied to plant cells in the newly funded Center for Lignocellulose Structure and Formation, a Department of Energy, Energy ...

Study finds blood cells can be reprogrammed to act as embryonic stem cells

(WASHINGTON, April 20, 2009) - In a recent study, U.S. researchers have reprogrammed cells found in circulating blood into cells that are molecularly and functionally indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells, a revolutionary achievement that provides a readily accessible source of stem cells an...

'First aid' for brain cells comes from blood

In acute ischemic stroke, the blood supply to the brain is restricted. Initially, brain cells die from lack of oxygen. In addition, ischemia activates harmful inflammatory processes in the affected area of the brain. For the first time, scientists at the Neurology Clinic at Heidelberg University H...

Creating ideal neural cells for clinical use

LA JOLLA, Calif., April 13, 2009 -- Investigators at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have developed a protocol to rapidly differentiate human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into neural progenitor cells that may be ideal for transplantation. The research, conducted by Alexei Ters...

When cancer cells can't let go

Like a climber scaling a rock face, a migrating cancer cell has to keep a tight grip on the surface but also let go at the right moment to move ahead. Chan et al. reveal that the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) coordinates these processes to permit forward movement. The study will be published online ...

CSHL-led team identifies key decision-point at which cells with broken DNA repair themselves or die

When cells undergo potentially catastrophic damage, for example as a result of exposure to ionizing radiation, they must make a decision: either to fix the damage or program themselves for death, a process called apoptosis. It's a stark decision that is as mysterious as it is remarkable, invol...

CSHL researchers explain process by which cells 'hide' potentially dangerous DNA segments

The DNA in the 23 pairs of chromosomes in each of the billions of cells of the human body is so tightly packed that it would measure six feet in length if stretched end to end. A genome of this size can squeeze into a cell's tiny nucleus because it is compressed into highly condensed chromatin fi...

Device protects transplanted pancreatic cells from the immune system

LA JOLLA, Calif., April 9, 2009Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) School of Medicine have demonstrated in mice that transplanted pancreatic precursor cells are protected from the immune system when encapsulated i...

Human ES cells progress slowly in myelin's direction

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin, USA, report in the journal Development ( dev.biologists.org ) the successful generation from human embryonic stem cells of a type of cell that can make myelin, a finding that opens up new possibilities for both basic and clinical research. The cell...

How tumor cells move

If cancer cells lack a certain protein, it could be much easier for them to penetrate healthy body tissue, the first step towards forming metastases. Scientists at the Pharmacology Institute of the University of Heidelberg have discovered the previously unknown cell signal factor SCAI (suppressor ...

Fluorescent cancer cells to guide brain surgeons

Gliomas are malignant brain tumors that arise from glial (supporting) cells of the brain. Gliomas are often resistant to chemotherapy. These tumors grow fine extensions that infiltrate normal brain tissue and, in addition, individual tumor cells can form satellites in surrounding tissue. Therefore...

A miR boost enables acute leukemia cells to mature

COLUMBUS, Ohio A new study by Ohio State University cancer researchers shows that boosting the level of a molecule called miR-29b in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells can reverse gene changes that trap the cells in an immature, fast growing state of development. The study discovered how the ...

Distinguishing single cells with nothing but light

Researchers at the University of Rochester have developed a novel optical technique that permits rapid analysis of single human immune cells using only light. Availability of such a technique means that immunologists and other cellular researchers may soon be able to observe the responses of in...

Amniotic fluid may provide new source of stem cells for future therapies

(WASHINGTON, March 31, 2009) - For the first time, scientists have shown that amniotic fluid (the protective liquid surrounding an embryo) may be a potential new source of stem cells for therapeutic applications. The study was prepublished online on February 12, 2009, in Blood , the official jour...

West Nile virus studies show how star-shaped brain cells cope with infection

A new study published as the cover article for the April 2009 issue of The FASEB Journal ( http://www.fasebj.org ) promises to give physicians new ways to reduce deadly responses to viral infections of the brain and spinal cord. In the report, scientists from Columbia University, NY, detail for...

Eye cells believed to be retinal stem cells are misidentified

Cells isolated from the eye that many scientists believed were retinal stem cells are, in fact, normal adult cells, investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have found. If retinal stem cells could be obtained, they might provide the basis for treatments to restore sight to millions o...