Time-lapse video of cell skeleton growing and shrinking Berkeley scientists have discovered the extremely subtle effect that the prescription drug Taxol has inside cells that makes it one of the most widely used anticancer agents in the world. The details, involving the drug's interference with the normal function of microtubules, part of the cell's skeleton, could help in designing better anticancer drugs, or in improving Taxol and other drugs already known to disrupt the workings of microtubules. The cell's skeleton is a constantly growing and shrinking network of microtubules, which provides a highway for transport as well as the muscle to move things like chromosomes around. Taxol interferes with the shrinking. Video courtesy of Gary Borisy. http://www.berkeley.edu http://www.facebook.com/UCBerkeley http://twitter.com/UCBerkeley

American Studies C132B, 001 - Spring 2014 Creative Commons 3.0: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs