Volume 7 Issue 4, April 2006

Studies on yeast vacuole inheritance have identified rules that probably apply to most organelle-inheritance pathways. They have found a partially conserved mechanism for membrane-cargo transport, and shown that the transport complex regulates the destination and timing of vacuole movement.

The NDR protein kinases regulate morphological changes, mitotic exit, cytokinesis, cell proliferation and apoptosis, as well as neuronal growth and differentiation. Combined data from different model organisms now highlight the conserved roles of these kinases in physiology and disease.

Cycles of mechanosensing, mechanotransduction and mechanoresponse regulate cell behaviour and other important cellular responses, such as growth, differentiation and cell death. Nanofabrication and other new technologies have enabled systematic analysis of the mechanisms of mechanosensing and the downstream cellular responses.

The idea that ejaculated spermatozoa 'race' towards the mature egg and compete to fertilize it is no longer thought to be true. Instead, only a small number of spermatozoa are guided towards the egg by specialized mechanisms that include chemotaxis and thermotaxis.

What can we learn from women who have 'made it' in science? How were their careers affected by their sex? Although the situation for women cell biologists has improved over the past 30 years, there is still much to be done.

Over the years, the goals in cell-biology education have changed from the memorization of facts to 'meaningful learning' ? that is, the development of a deeper understanding of important concepts. This requires a shift in the approach and attitude of both teachers and students.

Self-regulation is one of the most intriguing properties of early embryos. In 1924, Spemann and Mangold carried out the most famous experiment in experimental embryology, which led to the identification of the first self-organizing centre — the Spemann's organizer.