Skin at the Molecular Scale
5 February 2008, 15:36
Categories: nanoscopy--microscopy
Using an advanced microscopy technique known as cryo-electron tomography, scientists from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have made the first ever three-dimensional images of human skin at molecular resolution. The images reveal how proteins called cadherins bind skin cells together making skin so strong. The researchers found that each cadherin binds twice: once to a molecule from the juxtaposed cell, and once to its next-door neighbour. This works somewhat like Velcro and establishes very tight contacts between cells.
Posted by: The Editors
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