News by Subject Biology

How does the brain find order amidst a sea of noise and chaos? Researchers at the EPFL Blue Brain Project have found the answer by using advanced simulation techniques to investigate the way neurons talk to each other. In a paper published in Nature Communications, they found that by working as a team, cortical neurons can respond even to weak input against the backdrop of noise and chaos, allowing the brain to find order.

One way biological compounds inside cells stay organized is through membrane-less organelles (MLOs) -- wall-less liquid droplets made from proteins and RNA that clump together and stay separate from the rest of the cellular stew. In a paper in Scientific Reports, scientists report that MLOs may be highly sensitive to the level of divalent cations inside cells. This matters because divalent calcium and magnesium ions aid in cellular signaling and are vital to life.

A team of scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine and The Rockefeller University has illuminated the basic mechanism of Piezo proteins, which function as sensors in the body for mechanical stimuli such as touch, bladder fullness, and blood pressure. The discovery is a feat of basic science that also opens up many new paths of investigation into the roles of Piezo proteins in human diseases and potential new therapeutic strategies.

A team of researchers in the Marcia group at EMBL Grenoble, France, have discovered that the tumour suppressor MEG3 adopts a complex three-dimensional structure to fulfil its function. Furthermore, they were able to fine-tune its activity by targeted manipulation of this architecture. The results of this study, published in Molecular Cell, might help to advance diagnosis and treatment of certain types of cancer.

CNIO researchers have identified the role played by mTOR pathway as the origin of follicular lymphoma and propose the exploration in future studies of a possible therapeutic strategy using a drug that is already being used in clinical practice to treat other tumors.

Cells regularly go through a process called autophagy -- literally translated as 'self-eating' -- which helps to destroy bacteria and viruses after infection. Now new research by the University of Plymouth has shed light on the mechanisms behind autophagy and how it progresses -- particularly relating to a process called liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS).