Our area of interest is the regulation of cell division. We are currently studying

1) The mechanisms underlying nuclear migration and spindle positioning.

Many types of cells position or orient the nucleus and mitotic spindle relative to some cellular asymmetry. For example, Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells grow in a highly polarized manner to produce a bud (hence the name "budding yeast"). The bud is separated from the "mother" cell by a narrow neck and cells must position the mitotic spindle within this neck to ensure that both mother and bud receive a set of chromosomes during cell division.

 

2) A cell cycle checkpoint that acts late in mitosis, called the "spindle position checkpoint".

The spindle position checkpoint responds to mis-positioned spindles and delays exit from mitosis until the spindle position is corrected. We are using a variety of approaches to study these processes, primarily molecular genetics and cell biology. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been useful for identifying proteins involved in the spindle position checkpoint and in nuclear migration/spindle positioning. We are continuing to work with budding yeast and will be applying what we learn to cultured vertebrate cells to determine if the mechanisms controlling spindle position and exit from mitosis are conserved.