Cell “Hands” Aid  to Unlock Doors in Drug Design and Bioengineering

The protein, known as syndecan-4, combines with the complementary membrane proteins, known as integrins, to form protruding hands that feel outside the cell's environment.

Both proteins are placed within the cell membrane and are marked inside and outside by one end of the cell. We are thus in a prime position to feel outside the cell conditions and to transform signals into biochemical messages that alter cell conditions. It hel....