Tarun M. Kapoor
Rockefeller University, NY·Biochemistry
Every time a human cell divides, it must copy its chromosomes and split them evenly between two daughter cells. Mistakes in this process have been linked to developmental defects and to diseases such as cancer.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Biology
Chemistry
- Topics
cell division
mitosis
chemical biology
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jan 2029
What they work on
- Determine the functions of different AAA mechanoenzymes (force-generating proteins powered by ATP) during human cell division and how they are regulated, by rapidly switching them off with chemical inhibitors and imaging the effects with lattice light-sheet microscopy.
- Uncover the structural basis of how γ-TuRC, the complex that starts new microtubules, nucleates microtubule growth, using structural approaches and a purified protein toolbox that includes pure human tubulin.
- Define how γ-TuRC contributes to forming microtubules both at centrosomes and away from them during mitosis, combining chemical, structural and cell biology approaches.
- Capture brief, division-specific protein-protein interactions in living human cells using chemical proteomics, to identify the partners that regulate the cell's division machinery.
More about the research
Scientists now know nearly every protein involved in cell division, yet it remains hard to explain how those proteins work together to divide cells without errors. There are three reasons. Division is fast: it finishes in under an hour, and key steps take only minutes. The spindle, the scaffold of microtubules (protein filaments) that pulls chromosomes apart, is about 1,000 times larger than the proteins that build it. And many of the protein partnerships involved are brief and happen only during division.
Why it matters
Errors in cell division are linked to cancer and developmental defects. By explaining the molecular steps needed for accurate division, this work could point to new therapeutic strategies that target cell division and the cytoskeleton, the cell's internal scaffold. The chemical inhibitors may serve as starting points for drug development, and the principles uncovered may also explain how microtubules are organized in other cells, such as neurons.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
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.
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.
Jessica Lynn Feldman
Stanford University, CA·Biology
Build proximity maps of non-centrosomal microtubule organizing centers across C. elegans cell types, using the proteins VAB-10B and WDR-62 as handles, to learn how these sites first arise during differentiation.
The school
Rockefeller University: 6 labs on PI Pages, $305M a year on research, 38 research doctorates a year.
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