News & HighlightsNews
Discovery of genes involved in inner ear development hints at a way to restore hearing and balance
Loud noise, trauma, infections, plain old aging—many things can destroy hair cells, the delicate sensors of balance and sound within the inner ear. And once these sensors are gone, that’s it; the delicate hair cells don’t grow back in humans, leading to hearing loss and problems with balance. ...
Researchers explore how a cell’s protein-making factories are assembled
Ribosomes, the molecular factories that produce all the proteins a cell needs to grow and function, are themselves made up of many different proteins and four RNAs. And just as an assembly line must be built before it can manufacture cars, these tiny factories must be constructed before they can ...
Researchers identify potential new leukemia drug target
New treatment options are badly needed for acute myeloid leukemia, a relatively rare form of cancer. The malignancy begins in the bone marrow, and from there can spread rapidly to the bloodstream, depriving the body of the essential blood cells that carry oxygen and fight infections. Now, new wor...
Newly described ion channel structure reveals how excited neurons settle down
Within the brain, some neurons fire off hundreds of signals per second, and after ramping up for such a barrage, they need to relax and reset. A particular type of ion channel helps bring them down, ensuring these cells don’t get overstimulated—a state that potentially can lead to severe epilept...
Finches offer researchers a new tool to study Huntington’s disease
Many neurological disorders can rob someone of the ability to speak clearly, causing them to stutter, mispronounce words, and struggle to put together coherent sentences. However, the molecular and neurological dysfunctions that cause these symptoms aren’t well understood. Recent work at The Rock...
Researchers probe the physical forces involved in creating the mitotic spindle
Many millions of times per day, football-shaped structures called mitotic spindles form within the body’s cells as they prepare to divide. The process is routine but mysterious, as the micro-mechanics involved are not yet well understood. In research published October 1 in Developmental Cell, sci...
Study offers insight on how a new class of antidepressants works
A new class of drugs under development to treat depression has shown some success by targeting brain cells’ ability to respond to the chemical messenger glutamate. But the mechanism by which these experimental therapies work has remained unknown. The recent discovery, by a Rockefeller University-...
New findings help explain how molecules are speedily transported into and out of the cell's nucleus
A cell does everything it can to protect its nucleus, where precious genetic information is stored. That includes controlling the movement of molecules in and out using gateways called nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). Now, researchers at The Rockefeller University, Albert Einstein College of Medici...
For worms, positive thinking is the key to finding food
Caenorhabditis elegans, a tiny roundworm, spends much of its lifetime searching for soil bacteria to eat. This humble creature possesses 302 neurons, which may not seem like a lot compared to the billions of nerve cells that make up the human brain. Nonetheless, it uses sophisticated strategies t...
New findings shed light on fundamental process of DNA repair
Inside the trillions of cells that make up the human body, things are rarely silent. Molecules are constantly being made, moved, and modified — and during these processes, mistakes are sometimes made. Strands of DNA, for instance, can break for any number of reasons, such as exposure to UV radiat...
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