In the 1940s, scientists at the recently established National Cancer Institute were trying to breed mice that could inform our understanding of cancer, either because they predictably developed ...

The nucleolus is a liquid-like cellular organelle where protein factories called ribosomes are assembled. Researchers knew of ...

Aging leads to a decline in cellular fitness and loss of optimal protein function. Many age-related ailments, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, are caused by protein aggregation, a ...

Researchers have developed a new microscopy technique to observe how ribosomes function in cells. With this method, they can monitor individual ribosomes as they convert mRNA into proteins. The ...

Proteins are absolutely essential for the survival of organisms; they carry out many functions that are critical to life. Something needs to build all of those proteins from their basic components.

Researchers from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have discovered a new function of ribosomes in human cells that may show the protein-making particle's role in destroying healthy mRNAs, the ...

When we think about the blueprint of life, we tend to focus on DNA — the genetic code stored in every cell of our bodies. But DNA is only part of the story. For those instructions to matter, they must ...

The molecular machinery that normally builds proteins inside cells has now taken on a new role as a "switch." A research team ...

The genetic information stored in DNA is a living archive of instructions that cells use to accomplish the functions of life. Inside each cell, catalysts seek out the appropriate information from this ...

Researchers have discovered a new function of ribosomes in human cells that may show the protein-making particle's role in destroying healthy mRNAs, the messages that decode DNA into protein.

During translation, multiple ribosomes travel along the nucleic acid chain to build polypeptides that become functional proteins. Occasionally, these molecular decoders pause on the mRNA, either ...