Arnaud Echard (head of the Membrane Traffic and Cell Division Lab) and his team are working to understand how a parent cell physically "cleaves" itself in two to create two distinct daughter cells. The researchers revealed that intercellular bridges split and in doing so release a structure called "midbody remnant" (MBR) into the extracellular environment. This discovery could have a significant impact on cancer research, as the presence of MBR is thought to promote the uncontrolled production of tumor cells.
