News & HighlightsNews
Researchers profile active genes in neurons based on connections
When it comes to the brain, wiring isn’t everything. Although neurobiologists often talk in electrical metaphors, the reality is that the brain is not nearly as simple as a series of wires and circuits. Unlike their copper counterparts, neurons can behave differently depending on the situation. R...
Searching for drugs in dirt, researchers call on citizen scientists
Microbes are not only a rich source of disease, but also a rich source of medicines, and experts think many life-saving compounds produced by as-yet-unnamed bacteria are awaiting discovery. But they don’t always give up their secrets easily. Researchers must know where to look to find promising b...
Stem cell progeny tell their parents when to turn on
Stem cells switch off and on, sometimes dividing to produce progeny cells and sometimes resting. But scientists don’t fully understand what causes the cells to toggle between active and quiet states. New research in Elaine Fuchs’ Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development focused on s...
Discovery helps explain how B cells adapt to their targets
Over the weeks following an invasion by a disease-causing microbe, the human immune system fine tunes its defenses, producing proteins called antibodies that are ever more precisely targeted at the invader. New research in Michel Nussenzweig’s Laboratory of Molecular Immunology helps explain how ...
Friction harnessed by proteins helps organize cell division
A football-shaped structure, known as the mitotic spindle, makes cell division possible for many living things. This piece of cellular architecture, responsible for dividing up genetic material, is in constant flux. The filaments that form it grow and shrink, while motor-like molecules burn energ...
A new web tool effectively prioritizes disease-causing genes by biological distance
A new tool, essentially a genetic navigation system that can help biologists identify connections and measure distances between human genes, has received an upgrade. Now, just as with Google Maps, anyone can access the Human Gene Connectome, without training in computational biology or the need t...
Genetically identical ants help unlock the secrets of larval fate
A young animal’s genes are not the only genes that determine its fate. The genetic identity of its caretakers matters too. Researchers suspect the interaction between the two can sway the fate of the young animal, but this complex dynamic is difficult to pin down in lab experiments. However, soci...
Drug is identified that could block the spread of melanoma
Cancer is at its most curable when it’s caught before it spreads. That’s especially true in the case of melanoma, where survival rates can be as high as 97 percent when caught early — and as low as 15 percent if it’s not. New research at Rockefeller has now identified a promising route to sl...
Discovery reveals protons sneak through the sodium-potassium pump
Located in the surface membrane of all animals’ cells, sodium-potassium pumps keep cells and the animals that contain them in working order. Among other things, their efforts underlie nerve signals, heart beats and muscle contractions. But as ubiquitous and essential as these pumps are, new resea...
Sniff study suggests humans can distinguish more than 1 trillion scents
The human sense of smell does not get the respect it deserves, new research suggests. In an experiment led by Andreas Keller, of Rockefeller’s Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, researchers tested volunteers’ ability to distinguish between complex mixtures of scents. Based on the sensitiv...
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