Microtubules as a gyroscope for cells on the go

Free advice never hurt anyone. And when Harry Malech couldn't decide between research on cell motility or infectious disease, his fellowship mentor Richard Root offered up this gem: “You know how to combine that, don't you? You ought to be interested in neutrophils—they are the fastest cells alive.”

So began a study of neutrophil chemotaxis that became the first clear demonstration that microtubules oriented and organized the internal structure of migrating cells (Malech et al., 1977). In an earlier study, Goldman (1971) had noted that after destruction of microtubules with colchicine “no one ruffling edge [of a motile cell] seems to be capable of taking over as the leading edge,” suggesting that these “fibers may be involved in determining which ruffling edge becomes the leading edge.” But...