CMCB

Andrew McAinsh | principle investigator | funded by Marie Curie Cancer Care and BBSRC

Andrew McAinsh is an Associate Professor of mechanochemical cell biology, University of Warwick. Following a PhD at Cambridge with Steve Jackson and a postdoc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Peter Sorger, where he was Jane Coffin Childs Fellow, he established his independent laboratory in 2005 at the Marie Curie Research Institute. He moved to Warwick in 2009, as a co-founder of the centre for mechanochemical cell biology, and is supported by Marie Curie Cancer Care and BBSRC. Dr. McAinsh's lab of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and technicians are focused on understanding the mechanisms by which kinetochores power chromosome segregation and how the mitotic spindle is self-assembled and positioned during mitosis in human cells. Approaches in the McAinsh lab include live-cell microscope-based assays, computational image analysis and in vitro reconstitution

Catarina Samora | phd student | funded by FCT

I have a degree in Microbiology and Genetics from the University of Lisbon. After graduating in 2006, I started an MSc at the Gulbenkian Institute, where I became interested in understanding the mechanisms that regulate chromosome alignment and the establishment of a bipolar spindle. I then moved to the UK in 2008 to start my PhD. My aim is to understand how kinetochore microtubule dynamics is regulated and how perturbations in this system affect the formation of a bipolar spindle and a stable metaphase plate. I’m using an RNAi-based approach in combination with several in vitro and in vivo techniques to address this question.

Elina Vladimirou | research fellow | funded by BBSRC

I originally studied a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics at Imperial College London followed by an MSc in Statistics at Warwick. My long-term interest in biology led me to change direction by joining the MSc/PhD MOAC interdisciplinary programme, which I completed in 2010. I am interested in investigating the mechanics that control chromosome directional instability during metaphase and anaphase using live-cell imaging, mathematical and computational tools. Chromosome directional instability is the abrupt switching between poleward and antipoleward motion. The functional purpose of this chromosome property is still unclear and the precise mechanism that gives rise to these oscillations is yet to be discovered.

Ed Harry | phd student | funded by MOAC DTC

After graduating with a master's degree in physics (MPhys) from the University of Warwick in 2009 I joined Warwick's MOAC Doctoral Training Centre obtaining an MSc in mathematical biology and biophysical chemistry in 2010. I am currently undertaking my PhD between the CMCB and Warwick Systems Biology. More information can be found on my e-portfolio. I am interested in chromosome mechanics and building a mathematical model of kinetochore oscillations. I will be using molecular biology / cell cloning techniques along with developing advanced image analysis algorithms to track kinetochores. I will then use this data to develop these models.

James Bancroft | phd student | funded by MRC

After being awarded my BSc in 2008 I joined Nikon where I became an Area Manager in the Biological Imaging division. During my two and a half years at Nikon I was able to work with some of the most advanced imaging equipment on the market. However, I felt a need to return to hands on science and joined the CMCB in November 2010 funded by an MRC fellowship.I am focused on unlocking the role of the kinetochore proteins CENP-P and CENP-Q during mitosis. To do this I am using a combined approach including RNAi, fluorescent protein tagging, advanced widefield and confocal microscopy and biochemistry. Prior to undertaking my PhD I studied Biological Sciences at the University of Birmingham. Whilst at Birmingham I was awarded a Wellcome Trust Summer Studentship to fund work on cell signalling within the Franklin-Tong laboratory. It was during this time I became interested in advanced microscopy.

Muriel Erent | research associate | funded by Marie Curie Cancer Care

I have a PhD in Biochemistry and during different Postdocs combined biophysicals assays and microscopes techniques. I worked for 5 years in Rob Cross’s lab at the Marie Curie Research Institute studying the role of kinesin-8 in S.Pombe. After a year at ICR (London) and one “year off”, I am back to experimental research and hope to combine biochemistry and microscopy techniques to better understand the kinetochore microtubules. During mitosis, kinetochores nucleate microtubules inter-connect with microtubules nucelated from spindle poles. As a consequence, each kinetochore will be connected to one of the two centrosomes ensuring a correct segregation of the chromosomes. I am interested in understanding the mechanisms of kinetochore-microtubule nucleation. Moreover, I want to understand how kinetochores then control the dynamics of these microtubules in order to move chromosomes during mitosis.

Hauke Drechsler | research fellow | funded by Marie Curie Cancer Care

During my PhD work on spindle positioning in budding yeast I became interested in regulation of microtubules and associated motors in space and time during mitosis. Here at the CMCB, I want to address the question of how and why the dependency on subsets of motors and microtubule associated proteins switches and rebalances as mitosis progresses. I will use a complementing approach of in vivo and in vitro reconstitution techniques for this purpose with an inital focus on the mitotic kinesin KIF11/Eg5.

Samora, C.P.*, Mogessie, B.*, Conway, L., Ross, J.L., Straube, A. and McAinsh, A.D. (2011) MAP4 and CLASP1 operate as a safety mechanism to maintain a stable spindle position in mitosis.
Nature Cell Biology, 13: 1040-50

Amaro, A.C., Samora, C.P., Holtackers, R., Wang, E., Kingston, I., Alonso, M., Lampson, L., McAinsh, A.D. and Meraldi, P. (2010) Molecular control of kinetochore-microtubule dynamics and chromosome oscillation
Nature Cell Biology, 12: 319-329

*Jaqaman, K., *King, E., *Amaro, A.C., *Winter, J.R., Dorn, J.F., Elliott, H.L., Mchedlishvili, N., McClelland, S.E., Porter, I.M., Posch, M., Toso, A., Danuser, G., McAinsh, A.D., Meraldi, P. and Swedlow, J.R. (2010) Kinetochore alignment within the metaphase plate is regulated by centromere stiffness and microtubule depolymerases
Journal of Cell Biology, 188: 665-79

Braun, M., Drummond, D.R., Cross, R.A. and McAinsh, A.D. (2009)Klp2 organises microtubules into parallel bundles by an ATP-dependent sorting mechanism
Nature Cell Biology, 11: 724-730

*Toso, A., *Winter, J., Garrod, A.J., Amaro, A.C., Meraldi, P. and McAinsh, A.D. (2009) Kinetchore-generated pushing forces separate centrosomes during bipolar spindle assembly.
Journal Cell Biology, 184: 365-372

>> View my collection, "My Bibliography" from NCBI

Program Grant | Marie Curie Cancer Care
Mechanisms of chromosome and spindle dynamics
£791,000 - 2009 to 2012

Research Grant | BBSRC
System-mechanics of the kinetochore: operating principles of a complex mechanochemical engine
£717,065 - 2012 to 2016

>> Summary | Plain english

>> Mitosis: Methods and Protocols - the book edited by Andrew: here

>> what happened to past lab members? here

>> current collaborations NEW

>> image gallery under construction...

>> software under construction...