Actin News and Research

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Study Highlights MSC-EVs Potential for Alleviating Lung Fibrosis

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a chronic interstitial lung disease characterized by fibroblast proliferation and extracellular matrix formation, causing structural damage and lung failure.

27 Jun 2024

Mapping Gene Targets of HNF4A and HNF1A in Human Pancreatic Beta Cells and Liver Cells

Scientists have generated a comprehensive map of the gene targets regulated by the transcription factors HNF4A and HNF1A in human pancreatic beta cells and liver cells.

26 Jun 2024

3D Cell Cultures Improve Drug Screening Accuracy but Show Lower Efficacy for Anti-Cancer Drugs

The existing knowledge on monolayers and spheroid-based cell cultures, including the constituent compounds, and the difference in efficacy during drug screening, especially for anti-cancer drugs targeting cytoskeletal dynamics and cell cycles.

21 Jun 2024

Researchers Recreate Chemically Regulated Actin Polymerization to Study Membrane Dynamics

A synthetic platform that uses dimerization modules consisting of chemical proteins to precisely control the polymerization of actin and demonstrate symmetry breaking.

19 Jun 2024

Johns Hopkins Scientists Engineer Synthetic Cells to Mimic Symmetry Breaking

In a feat aimed at understanding how cells move and creating new ways to shuttle drugs through the body, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have built a minimal synthetic cell that follows an external chemical cue and demonstrates a governing principle of biology called "symmetry breaking."

14 Jun 2024

Supercomputer Simulations Unveil Mechanisms of Fruit Fly Wing Development

If fruit fly wings do not develop into the right shape, the flies will die. UC Riverside researchers have learned how fly embryo cells develop as they need to, opening a window into human development and possible treatments for birth defects.

20 May 2024

Study Reveals Dual Contractility Modes in Cancer Cell Invasion

Understanding how cancerous cells spread from a primary tumor is important for any number of reasons, including determining the aggressiveness of the disease itself.

8 May 2024

Visualizing the Molecular Interaction of Formins with Actin Filaments

Actin is a highly abundant protein that controls the shape and movement of all our cells. Actin achieves this by assembling into filaments, one actin molecule at a time.

17 Apr 2024

New Research Highlights Gut's Role in Preventing Infections

According to a study published in the journal Nature, gut bacteria and a diet high in the amino acid tryptophan can protect against pathogenic E. coli, which can cause severe upset stomach, cramps, fever, intestinal bleeding, and renal failure.

14 Mar 2024

Unveiling a Dynamic Mode of Force Transmission in Cells

Cell biology has possibly never jumped to the next level in the same way.

2 Feb 2024

Groups of Cells Act Differently to Individual Cell Units

A recent study indicates that a protein responsible for generating force in individual cells operates differently when cells are part of a collective movement.

14 Dec 2023

Immune Cell Movement Influenced By Water and Ion Influx

Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute, in collaboration with Imperial College London, King’s College London, and the University of Cambridge, have demonstrated that the influx of water and ions into immune cells enables them to navigate to specific locations in the body.

7 Dec 2023

The Adaptable World of Dendritic Cells in Immunity

Dendritic cells play a pivotal role within the mammalian immune system, being distributed throughout the human body.

31 Oct 2023

Role of Chloroplasts’ Dual Function From Photosynthesis to Immune Defense

For a long period, scientists have been aware of chloroplasts' role in converting solar energy into plant food.

26 Oct 2023

Bacteria’s Method of Moving Goods Throughout Cells

Bacteria can be found almost everywhere on the planet, including in soil, water, acidic hot springs, and even people’s own stomachs.

23 Aug 2023

Key Atomic Structures of the Actin Filament Revealed Through Cryo-EM

Actin filaments -; protein structures critical to living movement from single cells to animals -; have long been known to have polarity associated with their physical characteristics, with growing "barbed" and shrinking "pointed" ends.

9 Jun 2023

Capturing the Dance of Molecules: World's Quickest Camera Revolutionizes Cell Imaging

The world’s quickest camera capable of detecting fluorescence from single molecules has been created by scientists from Kyoto University, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), and Photron Limited in Japan.

7 Jun 2023

Blebs: How Rapidly Protrusions for Movement and Exploration Emerge in Cells

Cells need to be able to quickly alter their form if they are to migrate. Cells do this by storing additional “skin” amid folds and bumps on their surface, according to a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

19 May 2023

Mutant MRTFB Proteins Associated With Novel Neurodevelopmental Disorder

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have linked specific variants or mutations of the gene myocardin-related transcription factor B (MRTFB) with a novel neurodevelopmental disorder.

10 May 2023

New Genome Editing Technology Achieves Precise Targeted Insertion of DNA Segments

A new genome editing technology was developed by GAO Caixia’s group from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). This technology achieves successful and accurate targeted insertion of large DNA segments in plants.

26 Apr 2023