Discipline: Biological Sciences

An exquisite molecular machine, the mitotic spindle, organizes and separates chromosomes in dividing cells, thereby ensuring equal partitioning of the genetic material. Our lab is reconstituting spindle functions using pure components and applying new tools for manipulating individual molecules to uncover how this machine operates. By physically probing the interactions between microtubules, protein filaments that … Continued

Sex chromosomes in male Drosophila have adopted opposing chromatin environments, with Y-chromosomes being epigenetically silenced through heterochromatin formation, and X-chromosomes being hyper-transcribed. Research in our lab capitalizes on newly evolving sex chromosomes in Drosophila, to study the molecular mechanisms driving sex chromosome differentiation at the genomic and epigenetic level, and their phenotypic consequences. Our research … Continued