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01 February 2026
Feet First
Cells move about for many reasons, for example migrating to where they're needed, such as in wound healing or participating in an immune response, or in spreading as in cancer metastasis or to make nerve connections (synapses). And they do it with 'feet' called filopodia (Latin for thread-like feet) developed at their leading edge. This study finds that THSD7A protein-containing exosomes – vesicles released by the cell – are needed for filopodia formation, providing insight for treatments to stop cancer spread or promote synapse formation
Read the published research article here
Written by
- Image from work by Caitlin McAtee, Mikin R Patel and Daisuke Hoshino, and colleagues
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA
- Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- Published in eLife, January 2026
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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.
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