Latest Membrane biology Stories

The findings open the door to the development of better medicine for pain, depression and other conditions Scientists have for the first time determined the three-dimensional atomic structure of a human opioid receptor, a molecule on the surface of brain cells that binds to opioids and is centrally involved in pleasure, pain, addiction, depression, psychosis, and related conditions. Dozens of legal and illegal drugs, from heroin to hospital anesthetics, work by targeting these receptors....

Why does inhaling anesthetics cause unconsciousness? New insights into this century-and-a-half-old question may spring from research performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Scientists from NIST and the National Institutes of Health have found hints that anesthesia may affect the organization of fat molecules, or lipids, in a cell's outer membrane—potentially altering the ability to send signals along nerve cell membranes. "A better fundamental...

WELWYN GARDEN CITY, England and BOSTON, Massachusetts, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Heptares Therapeutics, the leading GPCR drug discovery company, announces that an operating company of Shire PLC (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, has exercised its exclusive option to license a novel adenosine A2A antagonist discovered by Heptares that is currently in preclinical development. Adenosine A2A is a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR)...

The mechanism involved in the detection of hyperosmolarity by TRP channels is clarified, with a newly discovered molecule preventing apoptosis. A large change in the volume of a cell, from its basal level, is detrimental to its health. Therefore, our cells are equipped with mechanisms to maintain their constant volume.　When a cell detects an environmental change that will alter its volume, due to changes in the osmotic pressure, it will adjust its internal water content to counter these...

Using a unique facility in the US, researchers at the University of Gothenburg have found a more effective way of imaging proteins. The next step is to film how proteins work – at molecular level. Mapping the structure of proteins and the work they do in cells could be the key to cures for everything from cancer to malaria. Last year Richard Neutze, professor of biochemistry at the University of Gothenburg, and his research group were among the first in the world to image proteins using...

Non-fouling materials that resist cell adhesion are very important in fundamental research on cell–biomaterial interactions and for practical applications. Thus, they have been extensively investigated during the last decade. Natural biomacromolecules such as bovine serum albumin (BSA) have conventionally been used to block cell adhesion. Zhao and Ding (Fudan University, Shanghai, China) recently reported that the purple membrane (PM) containing a natural photoresponsive protein,...

Working in the emerging field of systems biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers mathematically predicted how bacteria that cause food poisoning hijack a cell's sense of direction and then confirmed those predictions in living cells. The study proposed a new model to explain how mammalian cells establish the sense of direction necessary to move, as well as the mechanism that a disease-causing form of E. coli bacteria employ to hijack that ability. Cells need to orient...

SAN DIEGO, March 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Receptos Inc. today announced that the company is scheduled to present at the Cowen and Company 32nd Annual Health Care Conference at noon EST on Wednesday, March 7, 2012, at the Boston Marriott Copley Place in Boston, Massachusetts. Faheem Hasnain, president and chief executive officer, will provide an overview of the company and an update about its clinical development programs. "This is an exciting time at Receptos as we move forward with...

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ConfometRx, a leader in G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) structural characterization and analysis, is pleased to announce that it has expanded its service offerings to include generating iterative crystal structures of new GPCR targets as well as any GPCRs whose structures have been solved using T4-lysozyme (T4-L) fusion technology, and agonist structures using antibodies or G proteins to stabilize active states. The T4-L technology...

SEATTLE, Feb. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Omeros Corporation (NASDAQ: OMER) today announced that it has identified compounds that functionally interact with each of the following six orphan G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs): GPR17, GPR153, CCRL2, LGR4, LGR6 and OPN5. Without compounds that functionally interact with orphan GPCRs, developing drugs targeting those receptors is extremely difficult. Omeros has now unlocked 33 of them, representing over 40 percent of the Class A orphan...