title: Seeing and believing: recent advances in imaging cell-cell interactions.
abstract: Advances in cell and developmental biology have often been closely linked to advances in our ability to visualize structure and function at many length and time scales. In this review, we discuss how new imaging technologies and new reagents have provided novel insights into the biology of cadherin-based cell-cell junctions. We focus on three developments: the application of super-resolution optical technologies to characterize the nanoscale organization of cadherins at cell-cell contacts, new approaches to interrogate the mechanical forces that act upon junctions, and advances in electron microscopy which have the potential to transform our understanding of cell-cell junctions.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Alpha S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Yap
authors.affiliation: Division of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Magdalene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michael
authors.affiliation: Division of Cell Biology and Molecular Medicine, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Parton
keywords: adherin junctions; cadherin; cell-cell interactions; cell-cell junctions; electron microscopy; imaging