Spectrin proteins form a flexible, elastic scaffold beneath the plasma membrane, conferring mechanical stability and organising membrane domains. Comprised of α and β subunits assembled into ...

Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) are a group of inherited neurodegenerative diseases that damage the spine and the cerebellum that sits just above it. The neuronal degeneration causes ataxia, or ...

Spectrin and ankyrin, two essential proteins, shape and fortify cell membranes. New findings on variations in spectrin's ability to bind to membranes have implications for new biomedical molecular ...

Red blood cells must be flexible to squeeze through tiny capillaries to deliver oxygen. Chemists have now discovered the secret of this flexibility: a 2-D triangular mesh, like a geodesic dome, ...

Stanford researchers have identified an elastic-like protein matrix called spectrin that increases the stability of nerves that sense touch. According to a study published in “Nature Cell Biology” on ...

Abraham Lincoln may have suffered from a genetic disorder that literally shattered his nerves, a new study on worms suggests. Many of the president's descendants have a gene mutation that affects the ...

Spectrin and ankyrin are two essential proteins acting like bricks and mortar to shape and fortify cell membranes. But distinguishing which protein is the brick and which is the mortar has turned out ...