Lewis G. Tilney

University of Pennsylvania


Primary Section: 22, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Membership Type:
Emeritus (elected 1998)

Research Interests

As a cell biologist, I have been studying the cytoskeleton of selected portions of animal cells. This cytoskeleton, which is composed of actin filaments and microtubules, is responsible largely for the shape of different cell types. We have been trying to determine what accounts for the specific distribution, length, and numbers of filaments-microtubules. I have selected for study specialized regions of cells that include the axopods of protozoa, the brush border of microvilli of intestinal epithelial cells, the acrosomal process of invertebrate sperm, the stereocilia of hair cells of the inner ear, the actin tail of the intracellular bacterial parasite Listeria, and the bristles of Drosophila. All of these systems provide us information on how organized bundles of filaments-microtubules are formed, what they do, and what proteins are responsible for their distribution.

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