In this image of the month we focus on the microtubules and the protein CAMSAP2. Microtubules are filaments that, together with the other components of the cytoskeleton, provide structure and shape to our cells. They also play important roles in intracellular transport, cell division, as well as the formation of cilia and flagella. Microtubules are formed by the polymerization and lateral association of alpha - and beta-tubulin proteins into a hollow tubelike filament. Due to the end-to-end linear arrangement of the α- and β-tubulin dimers the filaments have a polarity, which is crucial for their dynamics and their biological functions ( Akhmanova and Steinmetz, 2015)...Read more

The Cell Atlas database was just recently released with data on more than 12.000 proteins and mapping to 30 organelles. Today, the scientific findings are published in Science in "A subcellular map of the humanproteome".

The cell is a complex entity that carries out multiple functions. In order to do this, the different parts of the cells are organized in structures, called organelles. By investigating the organelles and its proteome, and to understand how the proteins vary over time and space we can truly begin to understand human biology on a detailed level...Read more