Tubulin activity encourages drug R&D; Researchers, for the first time, have revealed the forms taken by; structures of tubulin during the construction of microtubules. The; discovery is of use to drug researchers and developers as tubulin; is a target for anticancer drugs, which can prevent the transition; from growing to shrinking states.

The new models of tubulin transitional states will be used to understand how microtubules explore their cellular environment - a process crucial to the deployment of spindles during cell division, - and how drugs can be designed and targeted to put a stop to the growth of cancer cells. Microtubules are active protein polymers critical to the structure and function of cells and the process of cell division...