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New Internal Cellular Process Creates Cysteine When Primary Systems Fail

A molecular geneticist at Montana State University has discovered a cellular process once believed impossible by scientists – the creation of the amino acid cysteine within a living cell when the cell's primary systems to do so fail.

13 Jun 2026

AI Decodes Biomolecular Condensates to Revolutionize Drug Discovery

Researchers at Princeton University have harnessed AI to understand how drugs affect the dynamics of vital structures within the cell.

13 Jun 2026

Collagen Exists as Liquid-Like Droplets Inside Cells

According to a recent study from the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, collagen, the protein that forms skin, bones, tendons, and organs, occurs inside cells as a liquid-like droplet rather than the long, rigid rod portrayed in textbooks during the past fifty years.

12 Jun 2026

Cryo-EM Study Unlocks Structural Secrets of RNA Therapeutics

RNA therapeutics have emerged as one of the most promising new classes of medicines. Eight small interfering RNA (siRNA) drugs have already been approved worldwide for the treatment of genetic diseases, yet scientists have not fully understood one of the most fundamental steps underlying their function: how Argonaute, the core protein responsible for gene silencing, becomes activated.

11 Jun 2026

Coffee Can Now Serve as a Biological Switch for Medicines

For many of us, a warm cup of coffee is how we start our day. For Texas A&M Health researchers, it may also offer a new way to control engineered cells in future medicines.

9 Jun 2026

Novel Cyclic Peptides Cross Cell Membranes to Fight Disease

Many diseases are driven by proteins interacting with each other inside cells. But blocking these interactions with drugs is difficult because our typic "small-molecule" drugs often prove to be too small to grip the broad, flat surfaces involved in protein-protein interactions.

1 Jun 2026

Study Reveals Unique Heat Behavior Within Living Cells

Living cells cool much slower than our current understanding of heat conduction can explain, according to new research from the University of Tokyo. Researchers used two techniques - high-speed temperature mapping and artificial heating - to observe how heat dissipated from living cells and similar-sized artificial, fluid-filled sacs (liposomes).

29 May 2026

Scientists Reveal How Surface Acids Prevent Bacteria From Blobbing

Researchers have discovered how acids on the surface of bacteria give these microscopic organisms their characteristic "rod" shape-by keeping an enzyme at bay that would otherwise turn the cylindrical cells into shape-shifting blobs.

27 May 2026

AI Designs Custom Miniproteins to Precisely Control Cell Receptors

G protein-coupled receptors, or GPCRs, sit in the plasma membrane, the boundary that defines the inside and outside of a living cell. They communicate with nearly every physiological process in our bodies - from the ability to see and smell, to sensing of adrenaline, insulin, nutrients and medicines.

22 May 2026

Nanoscopy Technique Reveals Hidden Networks Cells Use to Communicate

The Australian National University (ANU) has created a new nanoscopy technology that has revealed secret networks utilized for cell-to-cell communication, providing fresh insights into human disorders.

15 May 2026

New Non-Destructive Method Obtains Genetic Information From Living Cells

Normally, cells must be lysed for a so-called transcriptome analysis - which reveals which genes are currently being expressed - making repeated measurements on the same cells impossible.

7 May 2026

UNC Professor Receives Grant to Investigate Origins of the Genetic Code

Over the course of natural history, animals and plants have evolved to adapt to an ever-changing environment and increase the chances of survival. So, too, has our own DNA.

7 May 2026

Engineered Bacteriophage Speeds up the "Training" of Plastic-Eating Bacteria

Millions of tons of plastic waste build up in landfills and oceans each year. One promising approach is to engineer microbes to break plastic down into useful chemical building blocks.

4 May 2026

Microbead Lasers Reveal Cellular Forces in Complex Tissue Environments

Researchers have developed tiny flexible lasers that can be used to measure forces inside living cells.

30 Apr 2026

New VIS-Fbs Technology Offers Sharper Images of Living Cellular Processes

Fluorescent proteins have revolutionized science, enabling researchers to tag and visualize individual molecules in living cells, tissues, and animals.

23 Apr 2026

AI-Powered Microscopy Enables Real-Time Imaging of Living Cells

Using artificial intelligence, engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new way to watch the inner workings of living cells in real time.

22 Apr 2026

New Molecular Imaging Technology Illuminates Proteins Inside Living Cells

Fluorescent probes have transformed modern biology by allowing researchers to tag and visualize individual molecules in living cells, tissues, and animals.

22 Apr 2026

Protein Shape Changes Come Into Focus With LiP-MS and 3D Proteomics

This review explains how LiP-MS detects protein structural changes across whole proteomes, adding functional insight that standard abundance-based proteomics often misses. It also surveys method variants and shows how LiP-MS supports drug-target discovery, disease biomarker research, and the broader framework of “3D proteomics.”

20 Apr 2026

Single-Molecule Imaging Reveals How Anabaena Maintains Its Rectangular Shape

Photosynthetic bacteria helped shape Planet Earth. Among them are cyanobacteria that produced the oxygen in our atmosphere and made complex life possible, captivating scientists for decades. Now, researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) report a surprising new discovery-a system thought to separate DNA has developed to sculpt the shape of the cell in cyanobacteria instead. The results, published in Science, shed light on how protein systems evolve and how multicellularity emerged in this type of ecologically essential bacteria.

17 Apr 2026

Scientists Uncover How "Sorting Hubs" Clear Damaged Proteins From Cells

Inside every cell, a cleanup operation runs around the clock. Proteins are constantly damaged by wear and tear. Some can be repaired, while others must be dismantled and recycled. When this system fails, damaged proteins accumulate in clumps associated with diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal Dementia.

16 Apr 2026