Cover Picture: Freely Suspended Actin Cortex Models on Arrays of Microfabricated Pillars (ChemPhysChem 8/2003)

The cover picture shows the first demonstration of a biomimetic model of the cellular actin cortex. The actin filamental network imaged as a fluorescent micrograph (orange) is suspended on top of an array of microfabricated silicon pillars, schematically drawn in light blue. The actin network is obtained by polymerising actin filaments from a template provided by gold-capped pillars. Subsequently adding filamin as actin-crosslinking protein causes the formation of the ordered network within minutes. Find out more in the article by Spatz and co-workers on pages 872–877.