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FEATURES: One Foot in Front of the Other PAGE 2 OF 5 For
devising ways to study molecular motors in detail, Ronald Vale,
along with colleagues Michael Sheetz and James Spudich, received
the 2012 Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. Beyond that, some
of the goods must first be packaged and then picked up by
vehicles that follow an ever-changing highway to the right
destination. In the past half-century, scientists have revealed
how cells build these thoroughfares, and they’ve uncovered
specialized proteins that walk along the roads’ lengths carrying
freight. But plenty of questions remain: How does the cell
control the transportation? How do the walking proteins
coordinate their steps to keep grounded on their tracks? How can
materials hitch a ride on cellular freeways if there isn’t
energy to spare? “It’s become clear that there is an enormous
platter of movements that have to be executed by the cell,” says
HHMI investigator Ronald Vale of the Unive