New details of the molecular process by which our cells consume themselves point to therapeutic potential.

But, just as antibodies are finding increasing utility in cell biology, a new Food and Drug Administration classification for those products with clinical utility may affect researchers' access to the important technology (see accompanying story). Monoclonal History MAbs were born in 1975, when Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein at the Medical Research Council Laboratories in Cambridge, England, fused two types of cells to form a hy

But, just as antibodies are finding increasing utility in cell biology, a new Food and Drug Administration classification for those products with clinical utility may affect researchers' access to the important technology (see accompanying story). Monoclonal History MAbs were born in 1975, when Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein at the Medical Research Council Laboratories in Cambridge, England, fused two types of cells to form a hy

By audaciously pursuing an abandoned area of research, Ana María Cuervo discovered how cells selectively break down their waste, and revealed the health consequences when that process malfunctions.

During autophagy-literally "self-eating"-cells deliver cytoplasmic constituents, including whole organelles, to the lysosome for degradation.

By Judy Lieberman Master of the Cell RNA interference, with its powerful promise of therapy for many diseases, may also act as a master regulator of most—if not all—cellular processes. RNA silencing. Computer artwork showing a length of RNA (yellow with red rings) bound to an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). © Medi-Mation Ltd / Photo Researchers, Inc. ne of the biggest surprises in biology in the past d

Organisms need to sense their environment. By sensing, they can develop, heal wounds, protect against invaders, and create blood vessels. Chemotaxis, or directional sensing, allows cells to detect chemicals with exquisite sensitivity. Some chemotactic cells can sense chemical gradients that differ by only a few percent from a cell's front to its back. Although discovery of the molecule types involved in chemotaxis, as with other kinds of cell signaling events, has mounted, the details of how thi

Several labs have reported the formation of bacterial nanotubes under different, often contrasting conditions. What are these structures and why are they so hard to reproduce?

From guiding branching neurons in the developing brain to maintaining a healthy heartbeat, there seems to be no job that the immune cells can’t tackle.

More than simply helping haul out a cell’s garbage, ubiquitin, with its panoply of chain lengths and shapes, marks and regulates many unrelated cellular processes.