Analysis knocks down theory on origin of cell structure
Genomic tools show cilia probably did not originate as separate organism
David Chandler, MIT News Office
Understanding how living cells originated and evolved into their present forms remains a fundamental research area in biology, one boosted in recent years by the introduction of new tools for genomic analysis. Now, researchers at MIT and Boston University have used such tools to put what they say is "the last nail in the coffin" for one theory about the origin of a basic structure in the cell.
The games microbes play
Game theory study in yeast shows how cooperative behavior meshes with evolutionary theory
Anne Trafton, News Office
One of the perplexing questions raised by evolutionary theory is how cooperative behavior, which benefits other members of a species at a cost to the individual, came to exist.
Tiny backpacks for cells
Polymer patches could ferry drugs, assist in cancer diagnosis
Anne Trafton, News Office
MIT engineers have outfitted cells with tiny "backpacks" that could allow them to deliver chemotherapy agents, diagnose tumors or become building blocks for tissue engineering.
Image courtesy / American Chemical Society
This T cell also has a polymer backpack.
The scale bar is 10 micrometers.
JOHNS HOPKINS RESEARCHERS DETECT SWEET CACOPHANY WHILE LISTENING TO CELLULAR CROSS-TALK --Sugar Plays Key Role In How Cells Work
Johns Hopkins scientists were dubious in the early 1980s when they stumbled on small sugar molecules lurking in the centers of cells; not only were they not supposed to be there, but they certainly weren't supposed to be repeatedly attaching to and detaching from proteins, effectively switching them on and off. The conventional wisdom was that the job of turning proteins on and off -- and thus determining their actions -- fell to phosphates, in a common and easy-to-detect chemical step in which phosphates fasten to and unfasten from proteins; a process called phosphorylation.
UC San Diego Bioengineers Fill Holes
in Science of Cellular Self-Organization
By Paul K. Mueller
Results of MD simulations for the colony growth in a closed container. The growth is limited by
four rigid walls. The size of the square domain is Lx=Lz=136.6d where d is the cell diameter. a-
c: Initially the colony is prepared by placing randomly oriented cells of different length in the
middle section. The panels show snapshots of the population taken at t=5.0, 15.0, 30.0. The cells are colorized according to the value of the contact stress.
Cutting calories could limit muscle wasting in later years
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Chemical concoctions can smooth over wrinkles and hide those pesky grays, but what about the signs of aging that aren’t so easy to fix, such as losing muscle mass? Cutting calories early could help, say University of Florida researchers who studied the phenomenon in rats.
MIT zooms in on malaria-infected cells
Work could aid in diagnostics, drug testing
Anne Trafton, News Office
In work that could lead to new ways of detecting and treating malaria, MIT researchers have used two advanced microscopy techniques to show in unprecedented detail how the malaria parasite attacks red blood cells.
Photo / Patrick Gillooly
From left, graduate student YongKeun Park, School of Engineering
Dean Subra Suresh, Professor Michael Feld, and postdocs Monica Diez-Silva,
George Lykotrafitis and Wonshik Choi stand in the MIT Spectroscopy Laboratory.
The group has used microscopy techniques to show in unprecedented detail how
the malaria parasite attacks red blood cells.
Scripps Research Team Unravels New Cellular Repair Mechanism
Work in Yeast Cells Could Lead to Similar Discovery in Humans and New Cancer Treatments
LA JOLLA, CA, August 6, 2008—A Scripps Research team has unraveled a new biochemical pathway that triggers a critical repair response to correct errors in the DNA replication process that could otherwise lead to harmful or fatal mutations in cells. Though the work focused on yeast cells, the team expects to find an analogous system in human cells that could be exploited as a target for potential therapies for cancers, which are often caused by such repair mechanisms going off course.
Researchers Unravel Key Mechanism of Cellular Damage in Aging and Disease
Researchers have taken a first snapshot of how a class of highly reactive molecules inflicts cellular damage as part of aging, heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and Alzheimer’s disease to name a few. According to a study published today in the journal Cell, researchers have discovered a tool that can monitor related damage and determine the degree to which antioxidant drugs effectively combat disease.
Imagine trying to figure out how your car's power train works from just a few of its myriad components: It would be nearly impossible. Scientists have long faced a similar challenge in understanding cells' tiny powerhouses -- called mitochondria -- from scant knowledge of their molecular parts.
Image / Bang Wong, Broad Institute, from
a Joint Center for Structural Genomics image
Individual proteins converge to form the distinctive
shape of mitochondria.
MIT biologists have discovered that proliferating cells shift the output of their genes to evade regulation by microRNAs, tiny molecules that normally suppress tumor growth.
Cell biologists at Johns Hopkins have discovered how tiny molecular
motors within cells work together with other structural players to
coordinate critical cell shape changes that accompany cell division.
The work appears in the April 8 issue of Current Biology.
Researchers at the Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC) have identified a novel mechanism for microRNA regulation of protein synthesis and involvement in cancer. The results are published in the current volume of Molecular Cell.
Photo / Donna Coveney
Angelika Amon, an MIT biology professor, reports new insights into the role of proteins in cell division, work that could shed light on why errors occur during this process.
Protein role in cell division re-evaluated by MIT researchers
Work could impact study of miscarriages, birth defects
Anne Trafton, News Office
Proteins that control cell division play a far more nuanced role than researchers previously thought in the process that gives rise to reproductive cells, according to new findings by MIT biologists.
The work, reported in the April 18 issue of Cell, could help scientists understand why errors occcur so often during this process, known as meiosis. Meiotic mistakes are a leading cause of miscarriage and birth defects such as mental retardation.
Authors of the paper are Angelika Amon, MIT biology professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and biology graduate student Thomas Carlile.
Meiosis is a critical part of the reproductive cycle, producing reproductive cells with only one set of chromosomes (eggs and sperm in humans, spores in yeast, the organism the researchers studied).
Insight into HIV’s
“On-Off” Switch Shows Promise for Therapy, Understanding Cellular Decisions
By Paul K. Mueller
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered how a genetic circuit in HIV controls whether the virus turns on or stays dormant, and have succeeded in forcing the virus towards dormancy, a finding that shows promise as an avenue for HIV therapy.
Biologists at UC San Diego Identify Key Protein in Cell’s “Self-Eating” Function
By Paul K. Mueller
Molecular biologists at the University of California, San Diego have found one piece of the complex puzzle of autophagy, the process of “self-eating” performed by all eukaryotic cells -- cells with a nucleus -- to keep themselves healthy.
