Actin News and Research

RSS

New role for a key protein involved in muscle contraction

Overturning a scientific stereotype, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a new role for a key protein involved in muscle contraction and shown it is present not just in the cytoplasm of cells but in the nucleus as well.

1 Nov 2004

Cancer vaccine based on listeria bacteria shows promise

An experimental cancer vaccine using defanged listeria bacteria is showing great promise in animal studies, successfully treating new cancers that have spread into the lungs of mice.

29 Sep 2004

Ultra-sensitive measurement technique shows how biomolecular motors carry out essential tasks

In the human body, hundreds of different types of biomolecular motors help carry out such essential tasks as muscle contraction, moving chromosomes during cell division, and reloading nerve cells so they can repeatedly fire.

30 Aug 2004

Toxoplasma gondii discovery may help fight against malaria

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists have discovered a protein in the cell wall of parasites that’s crucial to the molecular mechanism allowing them to move between cells, survive and cause disease.

25 May 2004

Second-hand smoke scars and affects healing

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have found that breathing “second-hand” smoke reduces the speed at which wounds heal, leading to greater levels of scarring.

17 Apr 2004