^{Ken JACOBSON. Kenan Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.}

My relationship with Juri began in the early 90s when on a visit to Chapel Hill, he suggested that we cooperate on a Fogarty International Research Collaboration grant (FIRCA). We were successful in getting the grant for three years and renewing it for an additional three years.

Our collaborative work was focused on the role of microtubules in cell spreading and we published our first joint paper on this topic in 1998 in Cell Adhesion and Communication describing the maturation of focal adhesions following the depolymerization of microtubules. While doing research in Moscow, Juri and Olga Pletjushki-na discovered that when microtubules were depolymerized before spreading, the cells began to oscillate morphologically with a period of about 60s. Together, we further explored this finding and showed that the oscillations were dependent on Rho and Rho kinase and, apparently, on calcium. This work was published in Cytoskeleton and Cell Motility in 2001. After FIRCA grant came to an end, my lab continued on this work, motivated, in part, by my thought that the oscillatory behavior was ripe for theoretical and computational studies. We subsequently published papers in

the Biophysical Journal, Cytoskeleton and Cell Motility, the Journal of Cell Biology and PLOS Computational Biology exploring various aspects of the phenomenon that Juri and Olga had discovered, including important role of morphological oscillations in amoeboid migration. And, although I have retired, this investigation continues today in the capable hands of Maryna Kapustina.

During the Fogarty grants, Juri and Olga visited our lab several times for experiments and discussions with our laboratory members. Juris breadth and depth in contemporary cell biology always provided important insights. He was an entertaining and gifted story teller and humorist. Once when I was late coming to the lab, Juri commented that «the boss is never late, he is delayed.»

As part of the FIRCA, my wife Judy and I visited Moscow in 1995. Along with scientific seminars and discussions, we were treated royally with dinners, numerous vodka toasts, sightseeing tours and ballets. I marveled at, despite the obvious lack of resources compared to the West, how much could be accomplished by ingenuity and persistence.

Juri was a superb scientist, a marvelous raconteur and a good friend and colleague. I treasured our time together and Juri will always be missed.