Heidi Malaby and Dominique Lessard (Berger Lab) use a combination of quantitative cell imaging and single molecule motility assays to show that KIF18A’s relatively long neck linker permits navigation of microtubules in the presence of microtubule-associated proteins and concentration of the motor at kinetochore microtubule (kMT) ends.  This work suggests that KIF18A’s ability to move around obstacles on microtubules is required for its chromosome alignment function. You can read the whole paper here in Life Science Alliance (open access).