Autophagy is a normal process in which a cell destroys proteins and other substances in its cytoplasm (the fluid inside the cell membrane but outside the nucleus), which may lead to cell death. Autophagy may prevent normal cells from developing into cancer cells, but it may also protect cancer cells by destroying anticancer drugs or substances taken up by them.
Having healthy mitochondria, the organelles that produce energy in all our cells, usually portends a long healthy life whether in humans or in C. elegans, a tiny, short-lived nematode worm often used to study the aging process.
Recycling is just as essential in cells as in our more familiar macroscopic world. Cells continuously generate waste products and accumulate damaged components while performing regular functions.
Aging is an inevitable process that impacts all cell types, making yeast cells a common choice as a model organism in aging research.
The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1.1 million grant to Purdue University’s Gyeong Mee Yoon to research how plants acclimate to environmental stress. Her findings could have implications for food security in an era of climate change.
As the northern hemisphere experiences shorter and colder days, individuals who prefer morning workouts may encounter increased difficulty in getting up and running.
A signaling protein known as STING is a critical player in the human immune system, detecting signs of danger within cells and then activating a variety of defense mechanisms.
Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) is a master transcription factor with a role in maintaining oxidative stress response. It can be triggered by both redox-dependent and redox-independent pathways.
Our cells are crisscrossed by a system of membrane tubes and pockets called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). It is crucial for the production of biomolecules and is continuously built up and degraded.
To prevent our body's cells from overflowing with garbage and to keep them healthy, the waste inside them is constantly being disposed of.
Our body functioning is delicately balanced between the synthesis and breakdown of various cellular components.
When exposed to stressful conditions, several proteins tend to misfold and form aggregates inside or outside cells.
The human body’s autophagy is triggered by fasting. The body activates the cells’ waste-removal mechanism and produces new energy. The brain plays a crucial part in this process, as researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in Cologne recently found in mice.
Each year about 1.5 million people in the U.S. survive a traumatic brain injury due to a fall, car accident, or a sports injury, which can cause immediate and long-term disability.
A National Eye Institute-led team has identified a compound already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that keeps light-sensitive photoreceptors alive in three models of Leber congenital amaurosis type 10 (LCA 10), an inherited retinal ciliopathy disease that often results in severe visual impairment or blindness in early childhood.
A new research paper was published in Genes & Cancer on March 10, 2023, entitled, "VCP/p97, a pleiotropic protein regulator of the DNA damage response and proteostasis, is a potential therapeutic target in KRAS-mutant pancreatic cancer."
The removal of obsolete and damaged cell components by the body is crucial for fighting diseases like tuberculosis (TB), which establish themselves inside human cells, according to researchers from the Francis Crick Institute.
Autophagy, commonly known as “self-eating,” is a cellular quality control mechanism that relieves the cell of protein aggregates and damaged organelles. This system is inert under ordinary conditions and is only activated in the presence of persistent cellular stress.
Scientists from the National Institutes of Health recently identified a new neurological condition characterized by issues with motor coordination and speech. Their observations were published in the journal npj Genomic Medicine.
The telomeres, or ends of the chromosomes, increasingly shorten as people age. Recently, Salk researchers found that when telomeres are very short, they can still interact with the mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses.
Cells zealously protect the integrity of their genomes, because damage can lead to cancer or cell death. The genome, a cell’s complete set of DNA, is most vulnerable while it is being duplicated before a cell divides.