For the first half of the twentieth century, the sensory cilium, which is a non-motile projection that most mammalian cells possess, was thought to be a functionless vestigial structure. A series of ...

New research has unraveled the mystery of how microscopic cilia coordinate to move and propel marine creatures through water. Cilia are tiny, hair-like protrusions found in many organisms, including ...

Cilia are ubiquitous on cells, playing a variety of roles, Dr. Nicastro explained. While non-motile cilia serve as sensors for chemical and mechanical signals, motile cilia rhythmically beat to propel ...

Now, in a recently published Journal of Cell Biology paper, scientists used a newer electron microscopy technique, called volume electron microscopy (vEM), to examine how primary cilia on developing ...

Cilia play obvious roles in several tissues, including cell motility (sperm) and transport of mucus, other fluids, and even other cells (oviduct and efferent ducts of the testis). Less well ...

Forty years ago, doctoral student Joel Rosenbaum asked this question: How are cilia, the tiny thread-like appendages protruding from most cells, formed from molecules in the interior of cells? The ...

A group of rare diseases called ciliopathies -- polycystic kidney disease notable among them -- emerge from defects in cilia. These are the tiny hairlike structures on the surface of almost every cell ...

Cystic Fibrosis, a fatal lung disease striking one in 2,500 people, may be caused by a failure of the cilia to maintain the level of water associated with the mucus in the lungs, causing the natural ...

Nerve cells in the brain make elaborate connections and exchange lightning-quick messages that captivate scientists. But these cells also sport simpler, hairlike protrusions called cilia. Long ...

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