Neon drawing: human WD repeat domain protein 5 (WDR5)

"WDR5 is one of the huge number of proteins in any cell whose job it is to switch genes on and off at the right times. The DNA in which our genes are encoded is wrapped around proteins called histones, and whenever a cell wants to turn on a gene it first has to unwrap it. WDR5 is one of the proteins that aid this unwrapping.

In cancer, cells divide because the wrong genes are switched on or off. Since many of the genes that WDR5 helps to control are involved in shaping an animal as it grows, turning them on in an adult can mean new disorganised growth which can form a tumour."

Neon drawing by Graphic Thought Facility. A Wellcome Trust window, reflecting Euston Road, London.