With support from the National Institutes of Health, Dan Eshel, Professor of Biology at The Graduate Center and Brooklyn College, is studying signal transduction pathways that control and regulate the dynamics and functions of microtubules, the microscopic "conveyer belts" inside plant and animal cells that play an important role in cell growth and regulation. The model organism used in the studies is the budding yeast. Published findings include the role of previously known cellular pathways in novel functions that relate to stability of microtubules in various phases of the cell cycle. They also include the implication of previously unstudied gene products during cell formation. Past and future findings will lead to a better understanding of how the characteristics of dynamic cell-forming elements are regulated in cells and how imperfections in these mechanisms may be related to the development of diseases such as cancer.