As part of a regular series of posts, we’ll be giving you a chance to see some of the amazing biological processes that our researchers have managed to visualise.
This month’s image is one from our archives, from former post-doctoral researcher Dr Tony Mills. This image shows the protein tubulin forming microtubules. Microtubules are involved in many processes, including cell division, and form the mitotic spindles that ensure correct chromosome segregation during mitosis. Tubulin is the target of the widely used anti-cancer drug, Paclitaxel, which works by binding to the beta subunits of the protein and stabilising its microtubule polymers. This prevents the microtubules from disassembling normally and disrupts cell division.
Image of the month- June 2014
The MRC Cancer Unit Blog 