A research team from the Department of Applied Chemistry and Life Science at the Toyohashi University of Technology (Professor Ryugo Tero et al.) discovered a phenomenon in which specific lipids were ...

Scientists describe the design and construction of artificial membrane channels, engineered using short segments of DNA. The DNA constructions behave much in the manner of natural cell channels or ...

Modern cells are complex chemical entities with cytoskeletons, finely regulated internal and external molecules, and genetic material that determines ...

A surprising new function of essential hearing proteins may explain why some genetic mutations and common antibiotics lead to permanent deafness.

The upper size limit on cell-penetrating drug molecules may be much higher than medicinal chemists had thought. A research team reports that molecules believed to be much too large to diffuse across ...

Scientists have long known that cellular membranes vary in thickness, but measuring those differences inside actual cells has been out of reach. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest sci-tech ...

Cholesterol is an essential component of the membrane surrounding every human cell, despite its poor reputation as a health concern when its blood levels are too high. The key to health is having the ...

Photons of light possess linear and angular momentum. This fundamental characteristic is crucial to trapping objects optically using a highly focused laser beam. Using this light feature, the Optical ...

Experiments reveal that unsaturated lipid membranes promote vesicle fusion and DNA retention during freeze–thaw cycles, highlighting icy environments as potential drivers of protocell evolution. Today ...

Proteins long known to be essential for hearing have been hiding a talent: they also act as gatekeepers that shuffle fatty molecules across cell membranes. When this newly discovered function goes ...