Research

Pre-grad School

Microtubules and Cell Division

I was a research assistant at Asbury Lab at the University of Washington. I worked with Bonnibelle Leeds and Prof. Asbury to study the mechanism behind cell division.

Cell division is one of the most important processes within any living organism. However, it is not clear how genetic materials are partitioned equally during mitosis. It has been observed that chromosome, the carrier of heredity, oscillates during metaphase. Chromosome oscillation promotes the alignment and separation of chromosomes along the spindle equator. This movement is driven by microtubules attached to the chromosomes via kinetochores. Microtubule tips stochastically switch between assembly and disassembly states, pulling and pushing chromosomes in a process known as dynamic instability. The switching between these states is triggered by changes in force. We propose a mechanical model that captures the microtubule-chromosome dynamics.

  1. Bonnibelle K Leeds, Katelyn F Kostello, Yuna Y Liu, Christian R Nelson, Sue Biggins, Charles L Asbury (2023) Mechanical coupling coordinates microtubule growth eLife 12:RP89467
  2. Edward J Banigan, Kevin K Chiou, Edward R Ballister, Alyssa M Mayo, Michael A Lampson, and Andrea J Liu (2015) Minimal model for collective kinetochore–microtubule dynamics PNAS 112 (41) 12699-12704

Some more cool microtubule stuff!

  1. Seattle Mitosis Club and Asbury Lab
  2. A Movie (moive 1 from Cimini et al. 2004) showing how microtubulues (labeled red) move. Watch how microtubules move collectively as a bundle while each individual grows and shortens stochastically. mmc2