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.