Cilia News and Research

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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

Novel Amino Acid Nanoparticles Offer Hope for Fighting Multi-Drug Resistant Cancers

Amino acids, such as tyrosine and tryptophan, are the fundamental building blocks that make up proteins.

9 Jan 2024

Mathematical Recipe for Sperm Tail Motion Discovered

Patterns of chemical interactions are thought to create patterns in nature such as stripes and spots. This new study shows that the mathematical basis of these patterns also governs how the sperm tail moves.

27 Sep 2023

NSL Complex Regulates Intraciliary Transport Genes in Multiple Cell Types

The non-specific lethal (NSL) complex is a chromatin-associated factor that has been shown in both fruit flies and mammals to regulate the expression of thousands of genes. Abrogation of the NSL genes causes the organism to die, which gives rise to the complex’s unusual name.

28 Aug 2023

UCL Scientists Visualize the Molecular 'Nano-Machinery' That Causes Cilia to Beat

The first image of the structures that power human cilia – the tiny, hairlike projections that line our airways – has been produced by a team involving UCL researchers and could lead to much-needed treatments for people with rare cilial diseases.

14 Jun 2023

FDA-approved compound promotes photoreceptor survival in lab models of inherited retinal ciliopathy

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.

30 Mar 2023

Stickiness of influenza virus may determine the frequency of co-infection

Influenza viruses have an enormous impact in the U.S., with an estimated 25 million illnesses and 18,000 deaths in the 2022-23 flu season alone.

21 Mar 2023

3D structure of a major protein complex in cilia revealed

Researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have solved the 3D structure of an important protein complex in cilia, which are signaling appendages found on cells. The structure was pictured at the highest resolution available at the time.

15 Feb 2023

Investigating the molecular mechanisms that govern cilia force sensing

Although the human body is superficially symmetric along the left–right axis, most internal organs, including the heart, lungs, liver, stomach, and brain, have noteworthy left–right asymmetries in their structure and placement.

6 Jan 2023

Discovery of a new cellular element crucial to sense of smell

Researchers at Umeå University have found an organelle, a previously unidentified cellular component, inside the neurons that are responsible for the ability to smell. The finding might have repercussions for future studies on COVID-19 symptoms like impaired smell sense.

5 Jan 2023