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The ink-stained lab coats on these MBL Physiology course students tell a story! Last week, using local squid provisioned by the ǧ����Ƶ collecting boat, the students recreated the exciting discovery of kinesin in squid neurons in the early 1980s at MBL. Kinesins are a large and important family of motor proteins that perform critical biological functions, including moving cargo around inside cells and facilitating cell division. This major discovery emerged from a mix of serendipity and an intense set of experiments by , then working on his graduate thesis research, and numerous colleagues (and competitors!), all within shouting distance at MBL.

The Physiology students purified kinesin from squid with guidance from course faculty Bob Fischer of the National Institutes of Health and David Booth of University of California, Berkeley. Thanks to Physiology students Linda Ma of University of California, Davis, and Nicole Moyen of Stanford University for sharing their experience with !

Such a fun last 2 days working to repeat Ron Vale & Michael Sheetz’s experiments purifying kinesin from squid optic lobes! This video is kinesins (fixed to the coverslip) pulling microtubules 🤗 so cool! Thanks to our awesome instructors!

— Nicole Moyen (@nmoy6)