News & HighlightsNews
Research on sweat glands suggests a route to better skin grafts
As early humans shed the hairy coats of their closest evolutionary ancestors, they also gained a distinct feature that would prove critical to their success: a type of sweat gland that allows the body to cool down quickly. Those tiny glands are enormously useful, allowing us to live in a wide var...
Researchers develop automated melanoma detector for skin cancer screening
Even experts can be fooled by melanoma. People with this type of skin cancer often have mole-looking growths on their skin that tend to be irregular in shape and color, and can be hard to tell apart from benign ones, making the disease difficult to diagnose. Now, researchers at The Rockefeller Un...
New molecular map reveals how cells spew out potassium
New research from Roderick MacKinnon's Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics at The Rockefeller University has determined, for the first time, the complete structure of an ion channel that plays an important role in cellular electrical signaling by sending potassium ions out of the ...
New structure shows how cells assemble protein-making machinery
Scientists at The Rockefeller University have created the most detailed three-dimensional images to date of an important step in the process by which cells make the nano-machines responsible for producing all-important protein. The results, described December 15 in Science, are prompting the rese...
Fifty years after landmark methadone discovery, stigmas and misunderstandings persist
Methadone, the first pharmacological treatment for heroin addiction, was pioneered 50 years ago by Rockefeller University’s Mary Jeanne Kreek and her colleagues. Since then the drug, which is widely used in treatment programs across the globe, has saved countless lives and allowed millions of her...
First structural map of the cystic fibrosis protein sheds light on how mutations cause disease
Rockefeller scientists have created the first three-dimensional map of the protein responsible for cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease for which there is no cure. This achievement, described December 1 in Cell, offers the kinds of insights essential to better understanding and treating this oft...
Survey of New York City soil uncovers medicine-making microbes
Microbes have long been an invaluable source of new drugs. And to find more, we may have to look no further than the ground beneath our feet. Researchers at The Rockefeller University have shown that the dirt beneath New York City teems with our tiny allies in the fight against disease. In soil c...
New research clarifies why wounds heal more slowly with age
Older bodies need longer to mend. This reality of aging has been documented since World War I, with the observation that wounds heal slower in older soldiers. Yet until now, researchers have not been able to tease out what age-related changes hinder the body’s ability to repair itself. Recent e...
Researchers discover new antibiotics by sifting through the human microbiome
Most antibiotics in use today are based on natural molecules produced by bacteria—and given the rise of antibiotic resistance, there’s an urgent need to find more of them. Yet coaxing bacteria to produce new antibiotics is a tricky proposition. Most bacteria won’t grow in the lab. And even whe...
Researchers shed new light on RNA’s journey out of a cell’s nucleus
Cells secure DNA within their nuclei like a secret code stashed in a vault. However, the tightly controlled borders of the nucleus create a challenge: In order for the cell to produce essential proteins, messages derived from DNA must somehow escape the nucleus in the form of RNA molecules. New w...
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