PhD students Babet van der Vaart and Peter
Bieling create their model microtubule
The workshop discussed the latest research on how cells build microtubules – the hollow tubes that form the ‘skeleton’ of our cells.
These tubes can grow, shrink and move depending on what the cell needs of them (for example if they need to separate their chromosomes during cell division) and not only provide structure to the cell, but also form its main transport infrastructure.
It is important to know how cells control their microtubule system both because of the importance of microtubules in the life of a cell, and because microtubules are a favourite target for cancer drugs. Knowledge about how microtubules work can help develop better treatments, and generate ideas for new approaches to treatment.
“We got lots of feedback and people saying it was the best meeting ever!” says one of the workshop¹s organisers, Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Anne Straube. “Communication such as this is important for science because each of us can only do a small bit – we need a global effort to collect information, because together we can move on faster.
“It’s also nice to put faces to the people whose work you have read about. To help us get to know each other we built an outsize microtubule, which people actually enjoyed!”
The MCRI workshop programme is an important aspect of the Institute’s work. “We aim to hold similar meetings every three years, on topics of wide and immediate scientific importance,” says Anne.
Find out more about the Marie Curie Research Institute.
June 2008
