Mathematics Colloquia and Seminars

Return to Colloquia & Seminar listing

Self-organizing microtubule asters

Featured Campus Seminars

Speaker: Alex Mogilner, Department of Mathematics, Center for Genetics and Development
Location: 1147 MSB
Start time: Wed, Mar 22 2006, 4:10PM

Both cell division, and cell migration, and intracellular transport depend on asters made of microtubules - dynamic cytoskeletal polymers. These asters have a remarkable ability to self-organize and find the center of the cell. I will tell about experiments with fragments of fish melanophore cells, in which pigment granules, coated with dynein molecular motors, move to minus ends of microtubules, and also alter microtubule dynamics. A positive feedback between granule transport and dyneins nucleating microtubules and stabilizing their minus ends leads to aster self-organization, while the spontaneous nucleation of microtubules causes aster centering. The main focus of the talk will be to illustrate how mathematical modeling assists experimental research in uncovering molecular mechanisms of self-organization in the cell.