News
Alissa Weaver Appointment
Jan. 21, 2015—I am pleased to announce the appointment of Alissa Weaver, M.D, to the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology as Associate Professor. Her research focuses on how the secretion of small extracellular vesicles from cells promotes aggressive, invasive behavior and facilitates tumor growth and metastasis. Dr. Weaver is well known to many of us; her...
Welcome Marija Zanic
Jul. 29, 2014—It is a great pleasure for me to announce the arrival of Marija Zanic, Ph.D., who will be joining the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology as an Assistant Professor on August 1, 2014. Trained as a theoretical physicist and cytoskeleton biologist, Marija will add a quantitative flair and computational modeling to the diverse expertise...
CLASPs Are Required for Proper Microtubule Localization of End-Binding Proteins
Jul. 11, 2014—CLASPs Are Required for Proper Microtubule Localization of End-Binding Proteins Ashley D. Grimaldi1, Takahisa Maki2, Benjamin P. Fitton4, Daniel Roth4, Dmitry Yampolsky1, Michael W. Davidson3, Tatyana Svitkina5, Anne Straube4, Ikuko Hayashi2, Irina Kaverina Summary Microtubule (MT) plus-end tracking proteins (+TIPs) preferentially localize to MT plus ends. End-binding proteins (EBs) are master regulators of the...
Macrophages promote the advancement of metaplasia in the stomach
Jul. 1, 2014—Macrophages Promote Progression of Spasmolytic Polypeptide-Expressing Metaplasia After Acute Loss of Parietal Cells Petersen CP1, Weis VG1, Nam KT2, Sousa JF3, Fingleton B4, Goldenring JR5. Gastroenterology. 2014 Jun;146(7):1727-38.e8. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2014.02.007. Epub 2014 Feb 15. Abstract BACKGROUND & AIMS: Loss of parietal cells causes the development of spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia (SPEM) through transdifferentiation of chief cells....
Bromine Is an Essential Trace Element for Assembly of Collagen IV Scaffolds in Tissue Development and Architecture
Jun. 11, 2014—Working with Billy Hudson's lab in the department of medicine, the Page-McCaw lab determined that the element bromine is required for crosslinking basement membrane, the extracellular matrix underlying all epithelial tissues. Without bromine, the basement membrane is weakened and fruitflies cannot survive. As this basement-membrane crosslink is highly conserved throughout the animal kingdom, this study...
Bromine Is an Essential Trace Element for Assembly of Collagen IV Scaffolds in Tissue Development and Architecture
Jun. 5, 2014—Working with Billy Hudson's lab in the department of medicine, the Page-McCaw lab determined that the element bromine is required for crosslinking basement membrane, the extracellular matrix underlying all epithelial tissues. Without bromine, the basement membrane is weakened and fruitflies cannot survive. As this basement-membrane crosslink is highly conserved throughout the animal kingdom, this study...
Matt Tyska receives the John Exton Award for Research
May. 28, 2014—John H. Exton Award for Research Leading to Innovative Biological Concepts — Matthew J. Tyska, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology Tyska earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at the University of Notre Dame, and his Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Vermont. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship...
Breast stem cells need polarity signals for survival
May. 25, 2014—The Par3-like polarity protein Par3L is essential for mammary stem cell maintenance.a Yongliang Huo & Ian G. Macara Nature Cell Biology 16, 529–537 (2014) doi:10.1038/ncb2969 Received 01 August 2013, Accepted 11 April 2014, Published online 25 May 2014, Corrected online 30 May 2014 Abstract The Par polarity proteins play key roles in asymmetric division of...
Cell-to-cell variability in gene expression is regulated by casein kinase II
May. 9, 2014—Casein kinase II Regulation of the Hot1 Transcription Factor Promotes Stochastic Gene Expression Laura T. Burns and Susan R. Wente Capsule Background: Dynamic signaling events are required for cell-to-cell gene expression differences during responses to environmental stress. Results: During hyperosmotic stress, casein kinase II (CK2) interacts with and phosphorylates the Hot1 transcription factor. Conclusion:...
The dynamics of kinetochore-attached microtubules govern the metaphase need for kinesin-5 in human cells
May. 7, 2014—Kinetochore-microtubule stability governs the metaphase requirement for Eg5 A. Sophia Gayek1 and Ryoma Ohi1, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232 Kerry Bloom, Monitoring Editor Submitted March 3, 2014, Revised April 28, 2014, Accepted May 1, 2014. Abstract The mitotic spindle is a bipolar, microtubule (MT)-based cellular machine...
RASSF1A regulates microtubule dynamics and Golgi integrity
Apr. 14, 2014—Mol Biol Cell. 2014 Mar;25(6):800-10. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E13-07-0374. Epub 2014 Jan29. Microtubule segment stabilization by RASSF1A is required for proper microtubule dynamics and Golgi integrity. Arnette C(1), Efimova N, Zhu X, Clark GJ, Kaverina I. Author information: (1)Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232 JG Brown Cancer Center, University of...
Mechanism of brush border assembly discovered
Apr. 11, 2014—Intestinal Brush Border Assembly Driven by Protocadherin-Based Intermicrovillar Adhesion Cell – Volume 157, Issue 2, 10 April 2014, Pages 433–446 Scott W. Crawley, David A. Shifrin Jr., Nathan E. Grega-Larson, Russell E. McConnell, Andrew E. Benesh, Suli Mao, Yuxi Zheng, Qing Yin Zheng, Ki Taek Nam, Bryan A. Millis, Bechara Kachar, Matthew J. Tyskaemail Highlights...
TRIP/NOPO E3 ubiquitin ligase promotes ubiquitylation of DNA polymerase η
Mar. 14, 2014—TRIP/NOPO E3 ubiquitin ligase promotes ubiquitylation of DNA polymerase η Heather A. Wallace1,2,‡, Julie A. Merkle1,*,‡, Michael C. Yu1, Taloa G. Berg1, Ethan Lee1, Giovanni Bosco2 and Laura A. Lee1,§ Abstract We previously identified a Drosophila maternal effect-lethal mutant named ‘no poles’ (nopo). Embryos from nopo females undergo mitotic arrest with barrel-shaped, acentrosomal spindles during...
Circuit Mechanisms of Motion Detection
Mar. 7, 2014—Thomas Clandinin, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014 – 12:15 pm – 1220 MRB III