A Cell's Private Life: Researchers Peer Inside a Hidden Protein
Sunday, August 30, 2009 - 12:21
in Biology & Nature
(PhysOrg.com) -- To understand the molecular machinery of the human body, scientists have to be able to observe the structure of cellular proteins. This has been particularly challenging for those proteins embedded in cellular membranes. Now researchers from the Yale School of Medicine have established a novel way to peer inside this hidden universe, obtaining the first close-up look at a membrane-embedded potassium ion channel that, when defective, can cause high blood pressure or epilepsy. The research appears August 30 in Nature's Advance Online Publication.