# Microtubule motors, cytoskeletal organization and cell polarity

> **NIH NIH R35** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $667,947

## Abstract

Project Summary
The overall goal of this project is to understand how microtubule motors kinesin and dynein organize
cytoskeleton in interphase cells and, as a result, drive cell polarization. Our group recently discovered that
major motor proteins, kinesin-1 and cytoplasmic dyneins, in addition to moving many types of cargoes along
microtubules, have a new function: they define the distribution and dynamic behavior of two classes of
cytoskeletal filaments, microtubules and intermediate filaments in interphase cells. We have shown that both
microtubules and intermediate filaments are being transported as polymers by motor proteins. This transport
defines general organization of the cytoskeleton, and, as a result, cell polarity. Three biological models of
polarization studied in this proposal are: (i) Drosophila neurons, where movement of microtubules by kinesin-1
drives initial extension of axons and dendrites, and cortical dynein sorts axonal microtubules into uniformly
polarized arrays; (ii) Drosophila oocytes, where transport of microtubules by kinesin-1 drives rotation of
cytoplasm for localization of polarity determinants critical for the developing embryo, and cytoplasmic dynein
transports microtubules in nurse cells and from nurse cells to the oocyte and (iii) transport of intermediate
filaments along microtubules in mammalian cells, which is important for directed cell migration.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9948693
- **Project number:** 5R35GM131752-02
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Vladimir I Gelfand
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $667,947
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-07 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9948693

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9948693, Microtubule motors, cytoskeletal organization and cell polarity (5R35GM131752-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9948693. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*