Biochemistry News and Research

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Cells Use Condensates to Save RNA Messages During Stress

All cells need to sense and respond to their environment, to know when to activate genes, build proteins, and carry out their basic functions.

4 Dec 2025

Light-Activated AR3 Triggers Alkalinity-Driven Apoptosis in Cancer Cells

One of the hallmarks of cancer cells is their ability to evade apoptosis, or programmed cell death, through changes in protein expression.

2 Dec 2025

Capturing a Self-Splicing Ribozyme in Motion

RNA is a central biological macromolecule, now widely harnessed in medicine and nanotechnology. Like proteins, RNA function often depends on its precise three-dimensional structure.

28 Nov 2025

Real-Time Visualization Reveals the Transcriptional Gearbox

Life's instructions are written in DNA, but it is the enzyme RNA polymerase II (Pol II) that reads the script, transcribing RNA in eukaryotic cells and eventually giving rise to proteins.

28 Nov 2025

Study Identifies Adipogenin as Crucial Driver of Lipid Droplet Formation

A microprotein called adipogenin appears to play a key role in helping fat cells store lipid droplets – a phenomenon that's pivotal for metabolic health, a study co-led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers shows.

27 Nov 2025

Mitochondrial Mutation Found to Rewire Immune Function

Scientists have discovered how a mitochondrial mutation rewires immune function in a model of inherited primary mitochondrial disorders, which often lead to severe disability and death.

27 Nov 2025

Scientists Map How Transcription Factors Interpret DNA Sequences

With a new study in the journal Cell, researchers at Stanford University and Stockholm University have contributed to increased knowledge about gene regulation in human cells.

27 Nov 2025

Ribosome Collisions Activate Key Stress Signaling Mechanisms in Cells

LMU researchers uncover the mechanism by which ribosomes raise alarms in the cell.

25 Nov 2025

Chaperone-Shielding Mechanism Regulates Protein Glycosylation

Proteins are often called the building blocks of cells, but even those building blocks need to be built. One of the most important steps in the process of building proteins is glycosylation, when sugar molecules (glycans) are attached to the maturing protein.

20 Nov 2025

Researchers Discover Molecular Switch That Helps Breast Cancer Cells Survive Stress

Cells are regularly faced with environmental stresses that may damage or destroy them. To survive, they quickly adjust their gene expression to protect themselves.

18 Nov 2025

Atomic Structure of Kinesin-2 Reveals the Molecular Logic of Cargo Recognition

For decades, scientists have known that motor proteins like kinesin-2 ferry vital cargo along microtubule "highways" inside cells.

7 Nov 2025

Hidden Role of Biliverdin Reductase A in Fighting Oxidative Damage

According to a new study from Johns Hopkins Medicine, the enzyme biliverdin reductase A (BVRA) protects neurons directly from oxidative stress, regardless of whether it produces the yellow pigment bilirubin.

5 Nov 2025

Scientists Uncover How "P Bodies" Guide Stem Cells to Their Destinies

How do stem cells know what to become? Nearly three decades after scientists isolated the first human embryonic stem cells, researchers are still working hard to understand precisely how a single, undifferentiated cell can become any one of the roughly 200 cell types that make up the human body.

4 Nov 2025

Enzyme BVRA Found to Shield Neurons from Oxidative Stress

New research from Johns Hopkins Medicine shows that the enzyme biliverdin reductase A (BVRA) plays a direct protective role against oxidative stress in neurons, independent of its role producing the yellow pigment bilirubin.

4 Nov 2025

TUM Researchers Discover Molecular Switch Controlling Programmed Cell Death

In the fight against disease, programmed cell death – also known as apoptosis – is a key protective function of the body.

4 Nov 2025

Cross-Ancestry Genomic Study Identifies Thirteen Genes Linked to Obesity

Obesity is a global epidemic affecting millions of people every day and is associated with comorbidities ranging from heart disease and Type 2 diabetes to osteoarthritis and social stigma.

31 Oct 2025

Protein Dysfunction Could be the Cause of Diseases Resulting From Shortened Telomeres

New research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison reveals that dysfunction in a protein essential to maintaining stability in our chromosomes may be responsible for serious - and sometimes deadly - diseases.

31 Oct 2025

How Gut Bacteria Influence Mammalian Cell Physiology

The microbiome-the trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live quietly in our body-plays a crucial role in shaping human health by providing a variety of micronutrients necessary for vital functions.

30 Oct 2025

Researchers Uncover How Pseudomonas Bacteria Sense and Build Biofilms

The bacterium known as Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an unwelcome visitor in the human body. Serious infections can result when a bunch of these bugs settle together on a surface to form a biofilm - a community of microbes like the slime on spoiled food, but in this case residing inside a person.

29 Oct 2025

Discovery of Glucocorticoid Receptor Multimerization Opens Path to Safer Therapies

Drugs to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases - such as asthma, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis or Chrousos syndrome - act mainly through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR).

28 Oct 2025