CMCB

Research Summary

The ability to invade neighbouring tissues and to spread to organs distant from their origin is the most deadly feature of cancer cells. However, none of the currently available drugs specifically targets cancer metastasis. We aim to understand the mechanochemical processes underlying cell migration and differentiation in order to feed new knowledge into the drug-development pathway.

Microtubules are essential for chromosome segregation, intracellular transport, positioning of organelles, directed cell migration and differentiation. All these processes require the organization of microtubules into arrays with different geometry and density and the proper regulation of dynamics and interactions at the microtubule ends. My lab focuses on the mechanisms that generate specific microtubule arrays in polarized cells and on the dynamic interactions of microtubule tips at the cell cortex during cell shape changes and migration.

Anne Straube

>> see what happened to past members of the lab here

>> 2-page cv available here

>> see all publications here

Samora, C.P.*, Mogessie, B.*, Conway, L., Ross, J.L., Straube, A.** and McAinsh, A.D.** (2011) MAP4 and CLASP1 operate as a safety mechanism to maintain a stable spindle position in mitosis.
Nature Cell Biology, 13 (9), 1040-1050.

McAinsh, A.D.** and Straube, A.** (2011)
Spindle centricity.
Cell Cycle 10 (23), 3989-3991.

Kaverina, I.** and Straube, A.** (2011)
Regulation of cell migration by dynamic microtubules.
Semin Cell Dev Biol 22 (9), 968-974.

Straube, A. (2011)
How to measure microtubule dynamics?
Meth Mol Biol 777, 1-14.

Straube, A.** and Merdes, A. (2007)
EB3 regulates microtubule dynamics at the cell cortex and is required for myoblast elongation and fusion.
Current Biol 17 (15), 1318-1325.

Straube, A., Hause, G., Fink, G. and Steinberg, G. (2006)
Conventional kinesin mediates microtubule-microtubule interactions in vivo.
Mol Biol Cell 17, 907-916.

Straube, A., Enard, W., Bernr, A., Wedlich-Soldner, R., Kahmann, R. and Steinberg, G. (2001)
A split motor domain in a cytoplasmic dynein.
EMBO Journal 20 (18), 5091-5100.

Daniel Roth | research assistant | funded by Marie Curie Cancer Care

EB proteins are the master integrators of the plus tip network. Together with Anne, I study microtubule affinity mutants of EB1 and EB3 to understand how these proteins bind to microtubule and how their direct effect on microtubule dynamics is determined. I am also the lab's cloning machine, CMCB's movie director and co-organiser of the chalk talk series.

Ulrike Theisen | postdoctoral research fellow | funded by Marie Curie Cancer Care

Kinesin motors perform the long-distance transport towards the plus end of microtubules. Thus kinesins are likely to be responsible for delivering polarity factors to the cell edges. I study the function of a kinesin motor in cell migration and muscle differentiation.

Mike Downey | research associate | funded by Marie Curie Cancer Care

Dynamic microtubules regulate cell shape and directional-persistent migration. I investigate the spatial regulation of microtubule dynamics in migrating cells. In particular, I study the function of different EB proteins on microtubule assembly regulation and the composition of the plus tip complex.

Sarah Cosgriff | phd student | funded by Systems Biology DTC (BBSRC)

Microtubule dynamics and the targeting of adhesion structures and cortical domains by microtubule ends are implicated in steering cell migration. I study the role of EB proteins in cell migration and focus on the regulation of actin dynamics and focal adhesion turnover by the microtubule plus end complex.

Ben Fitton | phd student | funded by MOAC DTC (EPSRC)

Microtubule dynamics is characterised by phases of continuous growth and shrinkage and stochastic switches between these phases. I study the transitions between growth and shrinkage phases, catastrophes and rescues, in detail using in vitro reconstitution of microtubule assembly/disassembly in the presence of EB proteins to detect the GTP cap.

Sam Jefferyes | phd student | funded by Systems Biology DTC (BBSRC)

Migrating cells adopt a variety of different shapes, which are determined by the cytoskeleton in response to the extracellular substrate. I model cell shapes and use the information to correlate shape with migrational behaviour. I will exploit information about shape and shape changes to develop cell tracking algorithms that allow the robust detection of cell contact events and their outcomes, create synthetic data of migration strategies in 2D and 3D and compare these with experimental data.

Programe Grant | Marie Curie Cancer Care
Mechanisms of directional cell migration and differentiation
£630,000 - 2009 to 2012

Strategic Partnership Fund | University of Warwick
Collaboration with Irina Kaverina (Vanderbilt) - Microtubules in directional migration
£10,000 - 2011 to 2012

>> Microtubule Dynamics: Methods and Protocols - the book edited by Anne: here

>> PERSIST - a programme to analyse directionality of cell migration tracks: in development

>> TURNS & CURVES - a programme to analyse types and frequency of directional changes in cell migration tracks: in development

>> CAST - a programme to automatically quantify EB comets in space and time: in development