Cilia News and Research

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A Tiny Worm Helps Scientists Unravel a Genetic Clue to Kidney Disease

A microscopic worm that has no kidneys is helping Rutgers scientists understand a genetic change suspected of causing a serious inherited kidney disease.

24 Sep 2026

Acorn Worm Larva Undergoes Extensive Cellular Reprogramming During Metamorphosis

A squishy worm originating as a floating, head-like form within the Pacific Ocean is reshaping scientific understanding regarding metamorphosis at the cellular scale.

14 Sep 2026

Genetic Prediction Tools May Misjudge Mutation Risks, Study Finds

When a patient has their DNA read, it gets compared against a reference version of the human genome. It allows geneticists and rare disease experts to look at a list of places where the patient's DNA differs.

4 Sep 2026

Centriolar Satellites Coordinate Crucial Internal Cellular Protein Trafficking Networks

Inside every cell, thousands of proteins must reach the right place at the right time. Helping coordinate this complex logistics network are centriolar satellites-tiny, membrane-less organelles that play important roles in protein trafficking, cell division, and the formation of cilia.

22 Aug 2026

Aberdeen Researcher Awarded Prestigious $1.2 M International Grant to Uncover How New Traits Evolve

An Aberdeen-based researcher has been awarded a highly prestigious international research grant to investigate one of biology’s most enduring mysteries: how completely new traits evolve in animals.

23 Jun 2026

Disrupted Honeycomb Cellular Patterns in the Early Brain May Drive Cancer and Birth Defects

University of Virginia School of Medicine scientists have revealed how mistakes in the final step of cell division can have dire consequences for developing brain cells. The findings offer important new insights into cancer and developmental disorders, helping explain how the body tries to protect itself and what happens when it can't.

21 May 2026

A Single-Celled Organism Uses Geometry To Sense Its World

Stentor coeruleus, a single-celled organism approximately one millimeter long, has a unique ability, according to a startling discovery made in the lab.

3 Apr 2026

Genetic On-Off Switch for Cilia Formation Uncovered

Some might say it looks like a finger. Others might see a worm. Scientists in the field often liken it to an antenna. The technical name is primary cilium.

2 Sep 2025

How Primary Cilia Shape the Fate of Fat Precursor Cells

Too much fat can be unhealthy: how fat cells, so-called adipocytes, develop, is crucial for the function of the fat tissue.

21 Aug 2025

Parkinson’s Gene Mutation Blocks Vital Neuroprotective Signals

GBA1 mutations impair ciliary Hedgehog signaling in Parkinson's disease, reducing neuroprotective factors and highlighting a shared pathogenic pathway.

7 Aug 2025

New Insights into How Cilia Move and Power Cellular Motion

A team led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers has uncovered the atomic structure of a protein complex pivotal to the function of motile cilia, the hair-like structures extending from the surfaces of many cell types that generate their movement.

23 Jul 2025

Study Finds Protein Cleavage Essential for Healthy Cilia and Cell Signaling

New research by Sumeda Nandadasa, PhD, reveals how a key protein associated with Meckel-Gruber syndrome, nephronophthisis, Joubert syndrome and other ciliopathies is cut in half to perform two separate functions, both of which are fundamental to the healthy development of children.

30 Jun 2025

Anthrobots Reveal How Cells Can Build New Shapes Without Genetic Edits

Modern humans have existed for over 200,000 years, and each new generation has begun with a single cell-dividing, changing shape and function, organizing into tissues, organs, and limbs.

23 Jun 2025

Breakthrough Gene Discovery Uncovers a Master Switch for Food Intake

The Gpr45 gene is linked to food intake regulation, offering insights for obesity therapies. Study utilizes Automated Meiotic Mapping for gene identification.

6 Jun 2025

Fluid Dynamics of Stentors Offers New Insight Into Evolution of Multicellular Life

Life emerged on Earth some 3.8 billion years ago. The "primordial soup theory" proposes that chemicals floating in pools of water, in the presence of sunlight and electrical discharge, spontaneously formed organic molecules.

1 Apr 2025

Coffee's Bitter Taste Linked to Genetics and Roasting Process

Why does coffee taste more bitter to some people than it does to others? Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich have now come closer to answering this question.

30 Jan 2025

Bacterial Buckling: Filamentous Cyanobacteria Bend Under Pressure

Filamentous cyanobacteria buckle at a certain length when they encounter an obstacle. This was discovered by the research group of Stefan Karpitschka, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and professor at the University of Konstanz.

17 Jun 2024

Multiciliated Cell Differentiation Regulated by an Alternative Cell Cycle

A fertilized egg can develop into a baby through the amazing process of cell division, while a malignant cell can become a malignant tumor. Since there is so much on the line, nature maintains strict control over it through a mechanism known as the cell cycle that scientists once believed they thoroughly understood.

7 Jun 2024

Neuroscientists Uncover Significance of Glial Cells in Brain Communication

Neuroscientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center have found that an often-overlooked type of brain cell called glia has more of a role in brain function than previously thought.

29 Feb 2024