Mechanochemical cell biology asks about the machineries of movement in living systems.
Warwick’s Centre for Mechanochemical Cell Biology aims to drive scientific understanding in this area
– from the mechanisms of individual molecule stepping machines, to the motions of entire organisms, and everything in between.
CMCB investigators are drawn from 5 different Warwick departments.
Please have a look around the CMCB website. We want to show you the amazing living machinery that we are working on!
Robert Cross PhD
Director, CMCB
Warwick’s Centre of Mechanochemical Cell Biology is defined by its scientific focus on the machineries of biological movement.
Our mission is to galvanise research at Warwick in this area.
To do this, we pursue 3 goals:
· Goal 1 · is to provide an optimal environment for our science. We aim to optimize both our physical and our intellectual environments. We are fortunate to have excellent lab space. Members of the CMCB strive to acquire equipment that is second to none, to share it freely and to press for technical support that optimally facilitates the science. We talk to each other about science, we constructively criticize each other’s grant applications, we host seminars and workshops. We aim to recognise every contribution. We collaborate creatively, both internally and externally. We constantly, actively, seek to improve our research environment.
· Goal 2 · is to develop technology, both hardware and software. Our scientific work often requires the creation of new hardware and/or software. We actively pursue open science, not only by publishing open source, but also by making the technology we create open source and freely available.
· Goal 3 · is to train the mechanochemical cell biologists of the future. Many of us have skill-sets that bridge scientific disciplines, and we aim to transmit these skills to the mechanochemical cell biologists of the future. Most recently, CMCB has been pivotal for the startup of an innovative new course in which undergraduates address open research problems.
The CMCB currently hosts 20 investigators, from 5 Warwick departments
Till Bretschneider | Principles of cell motility
We use image analysis and computational modelling to address problems in cell motility
[email]
Mohan Balasubramanian | Cytokinesis
We use protein engineering and chemical biology to interrogate cytokinesis
[email]
Andrew Bowman | Histones
How does chromatin move around the nucleus?
[email]
Andrew Blanks | Myometrial physiology
How the uterus works
[email]
Nigel Burroughs | Dynamics
What can data and simulation tell us about mechanism?
[email]
Robert Cross | Molecular Motors
We are trying to understand the force generating mechanims of kinesins and microtubules
[email]
Samuel Dean | Flagellar assembly
We are asking how flagella are built in trypanosomes
[email]
Séamus Holden | Cell wall biosynthesis
We are asking how bacterial cell wall remodelling allows cell elongation and division.
[email]
Vasily Kantsler | Microswimmers
We are asking how micro-organisms, including human spermatozoa, swim
[email]
Darius Koester | Actomyosin Interfaces
We are asking how force is generated at cell membranes
[email]
Andrew McAinsh | Kinetochores
We are asking how chromosomes are segregated correctly
[email]
Masanori Mishima | Central spindle
We are asking how the central spindle is assembled and site cell division is determined
[email]
Justin Molloy | Cell & molecular mechanochemistry
Addressing a range of problems in cell & molecular mechanochemistry
[email]
