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Controlling the shape-shifting skeletons of cells

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Geekz Snow
Controlling the shape-shifting skeletons of cells

You know you have a skeleton, but did you know that your cells have skeletons, too?

Understanding how cells control movement could one day lead to tiny, bioinspired robots for therapeutic applications.

The building blocks of the cellular cytoskeleton are thin, tube-like filaments called microtubules that can form together into three-dimensional scaffolds.

Each microtubule is 1,000 times thinner than a human hair and only about 10 micrometers long (about 1,000 times smaller than a common black ant).

Along with motor proteins that power movement, these incredibly small structures combine to propel the relatively large cell--like ants steering and powering a car.

How asters in a test tube are related to a cytoskeleton powering cell movement, however, is still unclear.

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Geekz Snow
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