Essay

William Earnshaw describes the events that led to the discovery and cloning of the first kinetochore proteins 30 years ago using autoimmune sera from patients with scleroderma-spectrum disease. He also discusses our current appreciation of the complexity of this remarkable structure.

Aaron Ciechanover describes the discovery of the ubiquitin system and the analysis of its components using a 'classical' biochemical approach. These findings, which were published in a relatively modest journal, would prove to be ground-breaking.

To achieve effective visual communication of complex data, it is important that biologists identify the needs of their audience — whether they are peers or an outreach audience. This guide to the available wealth of resources, ranging from software tools to professional illustrators, should help researchers to generate better figures and presentations tailored to the needs of any audience.

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Gottfried Schatz reflects on the consequences of science growth, the challenges for young generations of researchers and on what EMBO has done for them.

The fast-growing economy and investment in science, including new funding opportunities and career development initiatives, have attracted foreign scholars to work in China and motivated world-class Chinese scientists to return. As a result, molecular and cell biology research in China has evolved rapidly over the past decade.

The first edition of the textbookMolecular Biology of the Cellwas published in 1983. Its unique features and aim and the way it was written lie at the heart of its success.

The molecular composition of the cellular lipidome is complex and still poorly understood. The exact mechanisms of how compositional complexity affects cell homeostasis and its regulation are also unclear. The emerging field of lipidomics is developing sensitive mass spectrometry technologies for the quantitative characterization of the lipidome.

Traditional boundaries between the public and private research sectors have become blurred. This creates the opportunity for the adventurous scientist to embrace a career that moves between academia and industry, while boldly and consciously sampling selected skill sets along the way.

Somatic cells can be converted to an embryonic-like state by introducing a defined set of factors. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells raise new hopes for regenerative medicine. What are the hurdles that need to be overcome to take advantage of this technique?

Although biomedical research has never been more intellectually exciting or practically important to society, pursuing a career as a biomedical scientist has never been more difficult. This article provides advice and gives tips on finding the right laboratory for Ph.D. and postdoctoral training.

Making discoveries is the most important part of being a scientist, and also the most fun. This article provides practical advice to young scientists on choosing a research topic, on designing, performing and interpreting experiments and on maintaining their sanity in the process.

Cell monolayers have serious limitations for cell biological investigations and for cell-based assays in drug screening and toxicity studies. However, the establishment of three-dimensional cultures as a mainstream approach requires the development of reliable protocols, new cell lines and suitable imaging techniques.

Systems biology has produced a challenge to the educational system. In the future, practitioners of biology at the systems level will need combinations of skills that are rarely found in individual scientists today. So, how should we educate students to succeed across scientific disciplines?

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.

For successful women scientists, the only universal attribute is a passion for science. A woman's personal life can have an impact on her professional life in many different ways, but it seems that there is no standard formula for success.

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.

What are the main characteristics of scientific conferences and what distinguishes the successful meetings from the less successful? When comparing, for example, big versus little conferences, long versus short meetings and specialized versus more general conferences, which features 'win'?