Tracking the fate of “homeless” cells, Michael Overholtzer was watching human mammary epithelial MCF10A cells wander in suspension, free of their normal attachments, when he noticed something strange. Many of the drifters contained giant vacuoles that appeared to house whole cells. And these internalized cells were intact, an observation he later confirmed.
Forty years ago, Alfred Goldberg, now a professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School (HMS), had many questions in mind that led him to abandon his medical studies. They were getting in the way of his education, he said about his decision to devote himself to basic research.
