A protein called Syndecan-4 exists in every human cell and its potential roles in cancer research and drug development have been neglected by scientists so far. Scientists recently used the computational techniques and observed that syndecan-4, combines with other proteins named integrins, to form the helping ‘hands’ that could sense the conditions outside the cell and able to convert the signals to biochemical messages that change conditions inside the cell.  These cellular hands can drive some of the cellular processes behind cancer and other harmful diseases. The findings could be valuable in the fields of cell and developmental biology and could help to further cancer research, drug design, and bioengineering.