Throwing a 'spanner in the works' of our cells' machinery could help fight cancer, fatty liver disease... and hair loss

Fifty years since its discovery, scientists have finally worked out how a molecular machine found in mitochondria, the 'powerhouses' of our cells, allows us to make the fuel we need from sugars, a process vital to all life on Earth. Scientists have worked out the structure of this machine and shown how it operates like the lock on a canal to transport pyruvate -- a molecule generated in the body from the breakdown of sugars -- into our mitochondria.

Fifty years since its discovery, scientists have finally worked out how a molecular machine found in mitochondria, the 'powerhouses' of our cells, allows us to make the fuel we need from sugars, a process vital to all life on Earth. Scientists have worked out the structure of this machine and shown how it operates like the lock on a canal to transport pyruvate -- a molecule generated in the body from the breakdown of sugars -- into our mitochondria.

Read more https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/04/250418235509.htm