Sensing Tension at Kinetochores
Event Details
- Type
- Friday Lecture Series
- Speaker(s)
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Sue Biggins, Ph.D., member and associate director, division of basic sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Speaker bio(s)
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The precise regulation of cell division is critical to processes such as self-renewal, proliferation, and development. A key event in the cell cycle is the partitioning of every pair of duplicated chromosomes to daughter cells. Chromosomes segregate using their kinetochores, the specialized protein structures that are assembled on centromeric DNA sequences and attach to spindle microtubules. Dr. Biggins will discuss her laboratory’s recent advances in isolating and reconstituting kinetochores and studying their behavior by biochemical and biophysical techniques in vitro. This work has helped them understand the underlying mechanisms whereby tension ensures proper kinetochore attachments to microtubules.
Dr. Biggins studies the mechanisms that ensure accurate chromosome segregation and regulation of the cell cycle. Her laboratory achieved the first isolation of kinetochores and has been applying structural, biophysical, and biochemical techniques to elucidate the mechanisms of kinetochore–microtubule interactions and spindle checkpoint regulation. Her laboratory also works on the mechanisms that ensure chromatin composition and centromere identity.
Dr. Biggins received her Ph.D. in molecular biology from Princeton University and went on to do postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco, in Dr. Andrew Murray’s laboratory. In 2000, she joined the faculty in the division of basic sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where she is currently a full member and associate director. She has received several honors for her work, including the National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology in 2013 and the Edward Novitski Prize from the Genetics Society of America in 2015. Dr. Biggins is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
- Open to
- Public
- Host
- Tarun Kapoor, Ph.D.
- Reception
- Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge
- Contact
- Justin Sloboda
- Phone
- (212) 327-7785
- Sponsor
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Justin Sloboda
(212) 327-7785
jsloboda@rockefeller.edu - Readings
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http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=4463