Cytoskeleton

Imagine a treadmill. As it moves, the track is constantly receding but is replenished at an equal rate on the opposite end. The result is a machine in perpetual motion, but which has its length stay exactly the same. For decades, biologists have regarded “treadmilling” as the standard...

New research from University of Illinois professor William Brieher has uncovered new insights on actin disassembly.

Many epithelial tissues are classified as being squamous, cuboidal, or columnar based upon the height of their lateral membranes. CDB researchers Yuou Wang and Bill Brieher identified a protein known as CD2AP as a key factor necessary for building up the lateral membrane.