A genetic approach to discover novel regulators of microtubule behaviour

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The goal of our research is to understand how microscopic structures such as the mitotic spindle assemble in living cells. Like most complex 4-dimensional biological processes, a complete understanding of spindle assembly will depend on knowledge of the properties of individual components as well as an appreciation for how their assembly is orchestrated in living cells. We use the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to study this problem because microtubule structures are assembled and disassembled rapidly in the first cell division, and many regulatory molecules are likely required to provide the instructions. The importance of microtubules to cell division, and their sensitivity to such molecular instruction, is perhaps best evidenced by the fact that many anti-cancer drugs target the microtubule polymer (e.g. Taxol and Vinblastine). However, we do not have a complete understanding of how microtubule growth and disassembly is regulated within the cell.