Patricia Wadsworth

Research Interests: 

Mitotic spindle assembly and function

Work in the Wadsworth laboratory is directed at understanding mitosis, the process by which the duplicated genetic material is accurately segregated into two new daughter cells. Understanding mitosis is important because errors in the process result in cells with the wrong number of chromosomes, a situation that is commonly found in cancer cells. Our overall goal is to understand basic cell biology of mitosis to provide insight into this fundamental process. Ongoing work is directed at understanding the mechanism by which the mitotic spindle self-assembles from component parts as cells prepare to divide and how mitotic motor proteins that are critical for this process are spatially and temporally regulated. Current projects include using gene depletion and replacement strategy in mammalian cells to investigation motor protein regulation during spindle formation. In a second project we are investigating conserved and divergent features of kinesin 5 motors using both budding yeast and mammalian cells. The simple spindle in yeast also allows us to quantify motor localization by microscopy. In a new project, we are examining mitosis in Naegleria amoeba, an emerging model system. This work, in collaboration with the Fritz-Laylin lab, seeks to understand cell division in this simple model.