Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
The Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at Karolinska Institutet is a nationally leading academic research center of high international standard where science comes first and foremost. CMB researchers publish regularly in the best international science journals, a result of a long-term in-house culture that promotes real impact and key breakthroughs.
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Photo: Iosifina FoskolouImmune cells use dual signals to shut down attacks
A new study in Nature Communications reveals how immune cells rapidly shut down their response after activation, preventing damage to healthy tissue. Researchers from Karolinska Institutet, sheds light on a molecular ‘kill switch’ that could help control infections or autoimmune diseases.
Researchers have discovered that many mRNAs in T cells carry two distinct shutdown signals. One is an AU-rich element – a stretch of genetic code that attracts proteins to degrade the mRNA. The other is a chemical tag called m6a methylation, which marks the mRNA for removal. When both signals appear together, the mRNA is broken down rapidly, halting the immune response.
Photo: Johan MarklundKI researcher teaches nerve cells to regenerate
If a person damages the brain or spine, nerve cells do not regenerate spontaneously. The mechanism has been there since the embryonic stage, but is not activated. Enric Llorens Bobadilla and his research group at Karolinska Institutet are trying to find which genes should be turned on to create new nerve cells. A new film about their work is now available.
Photo: Erik FlygTrio of KI researchers join forces against Parkinson's disease with donation from Promobilia
The Promobilia Foundation is donating SEK 25 million to enable four research groups from Karolinska Institutet and Lund University to join forces in a major research project designed to develop new treatment strategies for the fundamental causes of Parkinson’s disease. The quartet will be using innovative methods, including advanced gene therapies and target-specific vectors, which are able not only to reach but also to protect the most vulnerable cells in Parkinson’s disease.
Photo: Ole UnseldMolecular movie reveals how critical mitochondrial enzyme processes RNA
Researchers at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet have captured the first detailed molecular snapshots of human polynucleotide phosphorylase (hPNPase) in action, revealing how this essential mitochondrial enzyme degrades RNA through an elegant base-flipping mechanism. The findings, published in Nucleic Acids Research, provide unprecedented atomic-level detail of the enzyme's catalytic cycle and explain how mutations in this protein lead to severe inherited diseases.
Photo: Getty Images,Getty Images/iStockphotoHow the nervous system activates repair after spinal cord injury
Researchers from The Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at Karolinska Institutet have now mapped thousands of so-called enhancers; small DNA sequences that act like “switches” for genes, turning them on or boosting their activity. By analysing individual cell nuclei from mice with spinal cord injuries using AI models, the researchers discovered that these genetic switches are activated after injury and instruct specific cell types to respond. The main cells affected were glial cells such as astrocytes and ependymal cells – support cells that help protect and repair the nervous system.
Photo: GettyNew Study Reveals Surprising Diversification of Blood Stem Cells
Researchers from Karolinska Institutet have a new publication in Nature Genetics about their surprising finding.
"We were excited when we realized that we could use naturally occurring mutations in human blood stem cells to fate map their lineage contribution, and even more so when we observed that the blood lineage replenishment patterns from human stem cells matched those we had previously observed in mice,” says Sten Eirik Jacobsen, Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and Department of Medicine, Huddinge and head of the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Biology Group.
Photo: Linda LindellHigher levels of HIF2α slow down aggressive childhood cancer
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Umeå University have investigated how the protein HIF2α affects neuroblastoma, a severe form of childhood cancer. The results show that high levels of HIF2α can reduce the growth of tumor cells and promote their maturation into a less aggressive cell type.
“Our results show that high levels of HIF2α lead to decreased MYCN levels, reduced cell proliferation, and a shift toward a more mature cell type,” says Juan Yuan, one of the researchers behind the study at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology (CMB).
The study thus challenges the previous notion that HIF2α always acts as a cancer driver in neuroblastoma. Instead, the findings suggest that the protein may, in some cases, play a tumor suppressive and maturation-promoting role.
Photo: Getty Images.,Getty ImagesNew research confirms that neurons form in the adult brain
A study in the journal Science presents compelling new evidence that neurons in the brain’s memory centre, the hippocampus, continue to form well into late adulthood. The research from Karolinska Institutet provides answers to a fundamental and long-debated question about the human brain’s adaptability.
The hippocampus is a brain region that is essential for learning and memory and involved in emotion regulation. Back in 2013, Jonas Frisén’s research group at Karolinska Institutet showed in a high-profile study that new neurons can form in the hippocampus of adult humans. The researchers then measured carbon-14 levels in DNA from brain tissue, which made it possible to determine when the cells were formed.
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