An image showing two human cancer cells caught in the very final act of the cell division cycle, captured by a scientist at the University of Dundee, has been named "Cell of the Month" in the internationally respected science journal Nature Cell Biology.
Dr Paul Andrew's image shows the last stage of the division cycle known as cytokinesis. The cells have separated their DNA (shown in white) using the so-called "mitotic spindle" (shown in red) and are about to separate themselves from one another, forming two new individual cells which will themselves go on to divide again.
Dr. Andrews's research centres on understanding the way a critical protein kinase called Aurora B (shown in green) co-ordinates these events. Defects in both chromosome and cell separation may be an important underlying cause of a cell's progression to the cancerous state. Understanding these processes at a molecular and cellular level may in the future lead to better cancer therapies.
Dr Andrews is based in the School of Life Sciences' Division of Gene Regulation and Expression.
By Jane Smernicki, Press Officer 01382 344768 j.m.smernicki@dundee.ac.uk