Ajit Joglekar
University of Michigan, MI·Biology
Every time a cell divides, it must give each daughter cell exactly one copy of every chromosome. A safety system called the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint (SAC) helps make sure this happens.
- Fields
Biology
Biophysics
Mathematics & Statistics
- Topics
spindle assembly checkpoint
mitotic checkpoint
mitosis
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2028
What they work on
- Measure the rate at which a single unattached kinetochore generates the Spindle Assembly Checkpoint 'wait-anaphase' signal, using quantitative experimental data.
- Determine whether a kinetochore's signaling rate changes over the course of cell division, and whether it is high enough to delay anaphase indefinitely.
- Identify the main determinants of checkpoint signaling rate and build a mathematical model that predicts the dynamics of the signaling cascade.
- Use the experiments and model to investigate how aberrant checkpoint signaling increases chromosome missegregation in cancer cells.
More about the research
Errors in this system are long suspected of feeding the genome instability seen in cancer cells, but what goes wrong, and with what consequences, is still unclear.
Why it matters
Chromosome segregation errors drive genome instability in cancer. A predictive model of checkpoint signaling could clarify how faulty checkpoints raise these error rates in cancerous cells. This understanding may eventually help cancer researchers define which checkpoint defects matter in tumors and why.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Matthew Miller
University of Utah, UT·Biochemistry
Define how kinetochores sense mechanical tension and how force alters the binding behavior of this large protein assembly to microtubules, building on Stu2 as a key factor in a tension-sensing pathway.
Fei Li
New York University, NY·Genetics
Define how low-level transcription of centromeres into RNA is regulated in fission yeast and what role it plays in centromere function and chromosome segregation.
David Morgan
University of California-San Francisco, CA·Biochemistry
Determine how cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks), enzymes that tag proteins with phosphates, build complex multisite phosphorylation patterns on their substrates in the eukaryotic cell cycle, using biochemical approaches.
The school
University of Michigan: 124 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 963 research doctorates a year.
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