Research news

Maria Garcia-Parajo’s group has the first major paper to appear after the summer break with their 31 August publication in PNAS of ‘Direct mapping of nanoscale compositional connectivity on intact cell membranes’.

In their research into the cell membrane, where preorganised components give rise to strategic advantages for protein function and signaling, Maria and her Single Molecule Bionanophotonics team have been looking at lipid rafts – free-floating membrane regions of proteins and lipids – and have now demonstrated their cholesterol-mediated selective connectivity at the nanoscale.

Cellular prion protein (PrPc) plays an essential role in maintaining neurotransmitter homeostasis in the central nervous system. This discovery has been made possible by the observation that both a deficiency and an excess of the protein have a considerable effect on this homeostasis.

Surprisingly, in both cases, the central nervous excitability threshold is altered to such an extent that an epileptic seizure may result. Thanks to this discovery, we now have more tools at our disposal that can help us to deepen our basic understanding of epilepsy.

The Cambrian Explosion is widely regarded as one of the most relevant episodes in the history of life on Earth, when the vast majority of animal phyla first appear in the fossil record.

However, the causes of its origin have been object of debate for decades and the question of what was the trigger for the single cell microorganisms Precambrian Age (500 Mio. Years ago) to assemble and organize into multicellular organisms (Metazoans) has remained unanswered until now.

The adhesion of cells to the various components of their environment is mediated mainly by molecules known as integrins.

Mediate adhesion with fibronectin, two integrins, α₅β₁ and α_vβ₃, which is present in the extracellular matrix. But why are 2 molecules involved in the adhesion to a single extracellular component?

Prof. José Antonio del Río, leader of the Molecular and Cellular Neurobiotechnology research line at IBEC, has participated in a study on neural regeneration published in the journal Chemistry and Biology of the Cell group.

IBEC researcher in collaboration with a Harvard-led team in PNAS

Imagine an opaque bag in front of you and you wish to figure out what’s inside, what would you do? You can’t open it. So you press and you feel the content, then you might be able to tell whether it is a bag of glass beads or soft balls.

Gabriel Gomila and Laura Fumagalli, from the Nanoscale bioelectrical characterization line at IBEC, are two of the authors of the study.