Ubiquitin-mediated events in cell fate decisions

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The most critical decision that a cell takes when it divides is whether to go ahead and divide again as soon as possible (making more cells), or not to divide for now. Errors in making this decision of cell fate cause cancer and other diseases of cell proliferation.Our general objective is to understand the molecular regulation of pathways that control the cell division cycle in human cells. These pathways are essential, during and after cell division, to generate daughter cells with correct chromosome numbers, correct cell architecture and correct control of future division decisions. We have developed techniques that allow us to probe critical events that involve modification of cellular components through a process known as ubiquitination. Our pilot study has shown that many ubiquitin-mediated pathways control events immediately following cell division and are likely to influence or determine the decision to divide again.We propose research that studies ubiquitination of cellular components in cells committed to the two alternative cell fates. This can provide us with a better understanding of cancer. Current cancer treatments that target dividing cells do not distinguish between dividing cancer cells and dividing healthy cells that retain control over their cell fate. Therefore the ability to distinguish dividing cells with different fates would lead to better targeting of future therapies.