Towards an active hydrodynamic theory of the metaphase spindle

he spindle is a dynamic steady-state structure composed of microtubules and a wide range of factors which control microtubule nucleation, growth, and motion. While many of the individual components of the spindle have been studied in detail, it is still unclear how these molecular constituents self-organize into this structure. Here I describe how we are using spatio-temporal correlations of microtubule density and orientation to formulate a continuum coarse grained theory for the spindle. Our results suggest that microtubule turnover plays a crucial role in stabilizing the giant density fluctuations predicted by traditional active hydrodynamic theories.