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Aaron StraightAcademic Appointments
Appointment
Organization
Assistant Professor
Member
Member
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Postdoctoral Advisees
Christopher Carroll,
Annika Guse,
Laila Strickland
Web Site Links
Research/Lab website:
Straight Lab
Research Interests
Our goal is to understand how chromosomes are faithfully transmitted during cell division. The laboratory studies the structure and biology of chromosomes and the mechanisms of chromosome segregation during mitosis. The primary site for chromosomal interaction with the mitotic spindle is a specialized region of the chromosome called the kinetochore. We are studying how the position of the kinetochore is determined along the length of the chromosome, how kinetochores are assembled, and how kinetochores are activated to bind microtubules and produce forces for chromosome segregation. We use digital microscopy to extract quantitative information about the dynamics of chromosomes in living cells, biochemical reconstitution to assemble kinetochores in vitro, and genetics to manipulate the chromosome segregation process in order to study how chromosome-distribution systems function in eukaryotes.
Publications
- Carroll CW, Straight AF "Centromeric chromatin gets loaded." J Cell Biol 2007; 176: 6: 735-6 More »
- Straight AF, "Fluorescent protein applications in microscopy." Methods Cell Biol 2007; 81: 93-113 More »
- Brennan IM, Peters U, Kapoor TM, Straight AF "Polo-like kinase controls vertebrate spindle elongation and cytokinesis." PLoS ONE 2007; 2: e409 More »
- Carroll CW, Straight AF "Centromere formation: from epigenetics to self-assembly." Trends Cell Biol 2006; More »
- Sakamoto T, Limouze J, Combs CA, Straight AF, Sellers JR "Blebbistatin, a myosin II inhibitor, is photoinactivated by blue light." Biochemistry 2005; 44: 2: 584-8 More »
20 publications: view full list
