ASCB treat

The American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB) is a huge organization of about 10,000 cell biologists. This organization is fantastic for not only the support of biology research, but also for its help in career development, discussions of women in the sciences, support of biology education at every level, and influence on public policy.

The ASCB holds an annual meeting that is the top meeting choice for many cell biologists. This year's meeting wrapped up earlier this week, so I figured I would devote today's blog post to a favorite meeting event--Celldance! This isn't a dance for cell biologists (go the International C. elegans meeting for that rad event that lets you boogie with Nobel laureates...I'm looking at you, Craig Mello!). Celldance is a competition for stunning images and movies of cells. Movies can be descriptive or experimental, new or old, or they can help describe a cellular event for students and the general public.

So, please enjoy a few of the 2011 Celldance winners (and check out past winners here), courtesy of ASCB:

First place award: Cancer Dance - a stunning look at what may contribute to malignancy in some cells (Submitted by Tsutomu Tomita of Timelapse Vision, Inc.)

Public outreach award: Animation of Chromosome Alignment and the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint - beautiful, with sparkly animation of the amazing kinetochore and spindle checkpoint that makes me think of Katy Perry's "Firework" video (Submitted by Bin He, Virginia Tech)

Check out the rest of the 2011 CellDance winners here.


BONUS!! ASCB also announced winners of the first World Cell Race! This race pitted multiple cell types from labs all over the world against each other on race tracks made of fibronectin. The fastest cells were bone marrow stem cells, which clocked in at 5.2 microns per minute (or 0.000204 inches per minute). Check out the World Cell Race homepage for a movie of cells racing.