Cell Mates

Architects often wander through their buildings, examining details up close – gaining a different perspective to a flat drawing or table-top model. Here cell biologists use virtual reality to step inside a cell – strolling past structures they might normally only see twinkling under a microscope, reaching out every now and then to label them in different colours. Looking a little like a child’s climbing frame, this is a reconstruction of a network of intermediate filaments – rigid molecules of keratin that prop up the cell like girders in a skyscraper. The scientist’s models – based on microscopy scans – also give them a sort of virtual skeleton on which to hang future mechanobiological details. Next maybe: the neighbouring network of stretchy actin molecules that uproot this tiny architecture so cells can wander through their environment during development or diseases like cancer.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Reinhard Windoffer and colleagues
• Institute of Molecular and Cellular Anatomy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, February 2022