In work published in Nature Cell Biology, Current Biology, and Cell, Quansheng Du, PhD, cell biologist at the Medical College of Georgia, details a group of proteins critical for spindle organization and positioning in mammalian cells. These proteins may help determine cell fate after asymmetric cell division as well, he says: for example, determining whether the daughter cells keep being stem cells or differentiate into another cell type.
Now, he wants to know how these proteins get where they need to be and how they cooperate with other proteins to organize the spindle and direct its orientation. These details may eventually lead to better cancer treatment, such as disrupting mitotic spindle organization so cancer cells cannot divide, Du says.
Release date: January 22, 2008
Source: Medical College of Georgia
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
