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Health & Science4h 23m ago

A molecular geneticist at Montana State University has discovered a cellular process once believed impossible by scientists – the creation of the amino acid cysteine within a living cell when the cell's primary systems to do so fail.

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Montana State University, Budapest

Who
Ed Schmidt, Zoe Seaford, Sydney Austad, Martina Serrano Alvarez, Reed Noyd, Colin Miller, Peter Nagy
What
A molecular geneticist at Montana State University has discovered a cellular process once believed impossible by scientists – the creation of the amino acid cysteine within a living cell when the cell's primary systems to do so fail.
When
Sat, 13 Jun 2026 01:35:00 GMT · 4h 23m ago
Where
Montana State University, Budapest ·
Why
This newly discovered backup system in mammalian cells can create cysteine when the main disulfide reductase systems fail, a process previously believed essential for all living cells.
The Frontline Impact

How this affects you

This discovery can help humans by protecting cells from electrophilic toxins but might also help cancer cells survive therapies; understanding this mechanism could allow for disabling it in cancers to make them more susceptible to treatment.

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