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Physicists explore fundamental laws of biological materials

Physicists at the University of Chicago and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, are uncovering the fundamental physical laws that govern the behavior of cellular materials.

“We don’t have any tools or formalism to think about these types of materials, and that’s what we’ve been trying to go after,” said Margaret Gardel, professor in physics at UChicago. Gardel and Jennifer Ross of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, are supported in this work by a four-year, $800,000 INSPIRE grant from the National Science Foundation. (more…)

How living cells solved a needle in a haystack problem to generate electrical signals

By Guest PostDecember 10, 2013Sciencecalcium channels, calcium ions, cardiac muscle cells, cardiovascular physiology, cell membrane, cell physiology, concentration, electrical signals, endocrinology, extracellular fluid, hormone secretion, lin tang, living cells, needle in haystack, ning zheng, pathway, problem, sodium ions, structural data, tamer gamal eldin, william catterall, xray crystallographer

Scientists have figured out how calcium channels – the infinitesimal cell membrane pores that generate electrical signals by gating a charged-particle influx – have solved a “needle in a haystack” problem.

The solution to the longstanding riddle is reported in the Nov. 24 advanced online edition of Nature by UW and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. Dr. Ning Zheng, a noted X-ray crystallographer, and Dr. William Catterall, a pioneer in ion channel research, were the senior researchers, and Dr. Lin Tang and Dr. Tamer Gamal El-Din headed the project. (more…)

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Physicists explore fundamental laws of biological materials

How living cells solved a needle in a haystack problem to generate electrical signals