Scientists have known for decades that opioids relieve pain by binding to molecular switches in the brain called mu-opioid ...

People are estimated to be able to discriminate between anywhere from 10,000 to more than one trillion different smells. In the early 1990s, our understanding of how that can be possible took a big ...

The sweet-taste receptor might be the first stop in a metabolic surveillance system for sugar. The receptor is also expressed in certain intestinal cells, where it may facilitate glucose absorption ...

Opioid receptors are proteins in the nervous system that interact with opioids. Opioid receptors are part of the endogenous opioid system. This is the body’s internal system for regulating pain, ...

Surprising findings published in PNAS have implications for understanding and treating neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.

For the first time, researchers have determined how a human olfactory receptor captures an airborne scent molecule, the pivotal chemical event that triggers our sense of smell. Whether it evokes roses ...

A poorly characterized protein, historically thought to be a chaperon or enzyme, may actually be a key player in prostate ...

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital identified a binding cleft in nuclear receptors offering alternative drug ...

When Christopher Klebanoff, MD, came to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) from the National Cancer Institute in 2016, he was focused on a singular goal: bringing the promise of cellular ...

Drugs that act on NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors, which are essential for learning, memory and moment-by-moment consciousness, are key for treating neuropsychiatric disorders. These drugs were ...