In the evolutionary history of life, the ability of a cell to separate its inner world from the external environment was an important turning point. The so-called plasma membrane lets cells control ...

A study could open new pathways for understanding how cholesterol influences cell membranes and their receptors, paving the way for future research on diseases linked to membrane organization. A new ...

(Nanowerk News) Drawing inspiration from natural sensory systems, an MIT-led team has designed a novel sensor that could detect the same molecules that naturally occurring cell receptors can identify.

Membrane proteins are key components of living cells. They constitute one-third of the ORFs of virtually all genomes, perform crucial roles, and are targeted by a huge number of drugs. When present in ...

Lipid density has been shown to be the defining factor in membrane flexibility, potentially opening new avenues in synthetic biology. Research into membrane behavior has revealed that how tightly ...

Cells may generate their own electrical signals through microscopic membrane motions. Researchers show that active molecular processes can create voltage spikes similar to those used by neurons. These ...

image: An MIT-led team designed a sensor that may be deployed to screen patients for hard-to-diagnose cancers, or metastatic tumors. The device draws inspiration from the membrane that surrounds all ...