Faculty & Research
Faculty Profile
Claire Walczak
IU Affiliations
Biochemistry
Indiana Molecular Biology Institute
Medical Sciences
- Contact Information
- Contact Claire Walczak by cwalczak [at] indiana [dot] edu
- By telephone: 812-855-5919/5-6785(lab)
- MY 262 / MY 260 (lab)
- Research Areas
- Chromatin, Chromosomes, and Genome Integrity
- Eukaryotic Cell Biology, Cytoskeleton and Signaling
- Education
BS in Chemistry (1987) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
PhD in Biochemistry (1993) University of Wisconsin-Madison
Post-doctoral fellow (1998) University of California-San Francisco
- Awards
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scholar Award
American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant
American Society for Cell Biology, Junior Woman in Cell Biology
Research Description
My lab is interested in the mechanisms by which cells divide their genetic material to the two daughter cells. We want to understand how cells assemble the mitotic spindle, how the cell aligns and then accurately segregates its chromosomes, and how these processes are regulated during mitosis. The accurate segregation of chromosomes is critical during development to avoid chromosomal abnormalities such as those associated with Downs Syndrome, and chromosome segregation gone awry is a hallmark of cancer.
Of prime importance during spindle assembly are the regulated dynamics of microtubules that occur during interphase and mitosis and how the dynamics of different populations of microtubules are both temporally and spatially regulated. We use a combination of in vitro assays for the regulation of microtubule dynamics with purified proteins, reconstitution of spindle formation using meiotic extracts from Xenopus eggs, and high-resolution live and fixed cell imaging of microtubule dynamics and organization in living cells in culture. This approach provides a framework to further decipher the molecular mechanism of spindle assembly and chromosome segregation. We ask questions regarding the multiple physiological roles of microtubules in cells, how their dynamics are regulated by cellular proteins, and how the activity of microtubule dynamics regulators are controlled temporally and spatially within cells. Our ultimate goals are to identify new molecular targets that can be used to treat a variety of diseases in which altered microtubule activity is critical and to develop drugs that can target these regulators.