Scientists reveal the structure of glutamate transporter in our cells Feb 18 2021 For the first time, researchers have found one of the most important molecular machines in our cells uses a ‘twisting elevator’ mechanism, solving a mystery of how it transports crucial chemical signals from one cell to another. Individual transporter particles captured by the cryo-EM (left), the structure solved by averaging thousands of these individual particles (middle) and a computer simulation of the glutamate transporter in a lipid membrane revealing the pathway for chloride ions (red) (right; image credit, Shashank Pant, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) A University of Sydney-led international team of scientists has revealed the shape of one of the most important molecular machines in our cells – the glutamate transporter – helping to explain how our brain cells communicate with one another.