Science Editor's Choice

An article by the Joester group describing the role of growth factors in calcite crystal growth is highlighted as an editor's choice in the November issue of Science.  The original article by Knapp et al was published in JACS.

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Caption:

This false-colored scanning electron microscopy image shows a synthetic calcite single crystal that exhibits rhombohedral habit (green). Sea urchin primary mesenchyme cells, however, grow calcite crystals along different crystallographic directions depending on the concentration of vascular endothelial growth facto (VEGF). From low (blue) via intermediate (pink) to high (yellow) VEGF concentration, crystals switch from bilinear growth along the c axis to triradiate growth along the three a axes.