| Since its introduction as a biological marker, the Aequorea victoria Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) has had a strong impact in biology, being used in an ever-increasing variety of ways. I will review a bit of the history of GFP and show how having a genetically encoded marker that can be visualized in living tissues has affected the research in my laboratory. Instead of dwelling entirely on the past, however, I will describe some of the problems that we are currently trying to address. These problems range from the genetic control of cell differentiation to the molecular basis of mechanosensation, work that utilizes molecular genetics in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. |