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Molecular Spectroscopy Tracks Living Mammalian Cells in Real Time as They Differentiate

By Guest PostMay 2, 2012Scienceals, alzheimer's disease, amino acid residues, apoptosis, bacteria, berkeley lab, carbohydrates, cell change, cell death, children, diabetes, fibroblasts, fluorescent dyes, fourier transform infrared, ftir, function, hans bechtel, hoi ying, hyperspectromicroscopy, ir, kevin loutherback, liang chen, lipids, macular degeneration, michael martin, mitochondrial diseases, pc12, phosphorylation, phosphorylation process, power plant, protein, rafael gomez sjoberg, retina, san diego, serine, spectromicroscopy, threonine, tyrosine, ultraviolet, university of california, zhao hao

Berkeley Lab scientists demonstrate the promise of synchrotron infrared spectroscopy of living cells for medical applications

Knowing how a living cell works means knowing how the chemistry inside the cell changes as the functions of the cell change. Protein phosphorylation, for example, controls everything from cell proliferation to differentiation to metabolism to signaling, and even programmed cell death (apoptosis), in cells from bacteria to humans. It’s a chemical process that has long been intensively studied, not least in hopes of treating or eliminating a wide range of diseases. But until now the close-up view – watching phosphorylation work at the molecular level as individual cells change over time – has been impossible without damaging the cells or interfering with the very processes that are being examined.

“To look into phosphorylation, researchers have labeled specific phosphorylated proteins with antibodies that carry fluorescent dyes,” says Hoi-Ying Holman of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). “That gives you a great image, but you have to know exactly what to label before you can even begin.” (more…)

Yale Study: How Mitochondrial DNA Defects Cause Inherited Deafness

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 2012Scienceapoptosis, cascade, cell, cellular power plants, cellular respiration, cellular structure, chemical modification, disease, dna mutation, energy, enzyme, gene, gerald s shadel, hearing loss, helen dodson, inherited deafness, justin cotney, lei song, methylation, mitochondria, mitochondrial dna mutation, mitochondrial ribosomes, molecular pathway, mouse model, overexpression, programmed cell death, protein, rna, sharen e mccay, timothy e shutt, yale scientist

Yale scientists have discovered the molecular pathway by which maternally inherited deafness appears to occur: Mitochondrial DNA mutations trigger a signaling cascade, resulting in programmed cell death. The study is in the Feb. 17 issue of Cell.

Mitochondria are cellular structures that function as “cellular power plants” because they generate most of the cell’s supply of energy. They contain DNA inherited from one’s mother. Mitochondria determine whether a cell lives or dies via the process of programmed cell death, or apoptosis. (more…)

Targeting Protein Critical To Cell Division Stops Cancer Cells From Proliferating And Kills Them

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2011Scienceanti cancer therapies, apoptosis, biology and metabolism, cancers, cell death, cell division, chemotherapy, chromosome transmission, combination therapy, computational analyses, daughter cells, DNA, drug taxol, dynamic structure, formation of a tumor, function, genetic screen, jorge torres, kinesin like protein, malignant cells, mitosis, mitotic spindle, molecular motor, normal cells, novel strategy, protein, spindle function, stard9, toxic

Suppressing a newly identified protein involved in regulating cell division could be a novel strategy for fighting certain cancers because it stops the malignant cells from dividing and causes them to die quickly, according to a study by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

During the five-year study, designed to seek new targets for anti-cancer therapies, researchers discovered that depleting the protein, called STARD9, also helped the commonly used chemotherapy drug Taxol work more effectively against certain cancers. (more…)

Two Genetic Variations Predict Second Cancers after Radiation Treatment for Children with Hodgkin’s

By Guest PostJuly 28, 2011Health, Scienceandrew skol, apoptosis, cancer types, cells, differentiation, fundamental cellular processes, gene, genetic variations, hodgkins lymphoma, hodgkins survivors, kenan onel, nature medicine, prdm1, prmd1 gene, proliferation, radiation and chemotherapy, radiation induced second cancers, radiation therapy, sarah jackson, single nucleotide polymorphisms, timothy best, treatable cancers

A genome-wide association study published in the August issue of Nature Medicine has found two tiny genetic variations that can predict which patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma are most likely to develop radiation-induced second cancers years after treatment. Knowing in advance who is at risk could help physicians tailor treatment to reduce the risks for patients who are most susceptible to long-term damage.

Hodgkin’s lymphoma is one of the most treatable cancers, with more than 90 percent of patients surviving after a combination of radiation and chemotherapy. But nearly 20 percent of patients treated as children develop a second cancer within 30 years. The younger the patients are when treated and the higher the radiation dose, the greater the risk. This late side effect of treatment is the second leading cause of death for long-term Hodgkin’s survivors. (more…)

Tag Archives: apoptosis

Molecular Spectroscopy Tracks Living Mammalian Cells in Real Time as They Differentiate

Yale Study: How Mitochondrial DNA Defects Cause Inherited Deafness

Targeting Protein Critical To Cell Division Stops Cancer Cells From Proliferating And Kills Them

Two Genetic Variations Predict Second Cancers after Radiation Treatment for Children with Hodgkin’s