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Building a synthetic centrosome

Updated: Jan 16, 2020

by Jeff Woodruff

The centrosome is a structure in cells which is built every time the cell prepares to divide. In this video abstract, Jeff Woodruff explains how to build a centrosome in a test tube from purified proteins. He found that the centrosome acts like a sponge, which selectively soaks up the proteins needed to build microtubules.

Read more in the full paper, published in the journal Cell.

Jeff Woodruff was a postdoc in the lab of Tony Hyman at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany.

Update: Jeff is now an Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas!

Related resources

• Watch a Science Sketch on the regulation of centrosome assembly by Jeff and Oliver Wüseke.

• Watch Jeff's first Science Sketch explaining his approach to studying the centrosome.

• Watch a Khan Academy video about microtubules and the mitotic spindle.

#centrosomes #celldivision #cells #microtubules #Celegans #cell

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