Research description: Centrosomes, microtubules and cancer

The work in our laboratory focuses on the centrosome, an organelle best known for its role as a major microtubule organising centre. Emerging evidence, however, suggests that the centrosome also acts as a communication hub that spatially concentrates diverse signalling pathways. While centrosome number, structure and function are carefully regulated within healthy cells, tumours display a multitude of centrosomal abnormalities. Such anomalies can disrupt microtubule organisation as well as impede essential signalling cascades. The question, remains, however, as to whether centrosome dysfunction is a cause or a consequence of tumourigenesis. Our primary objectives are to probe the function of the centrosome in genomic instability, cell polarity and in tumour formation.
My seminar on 3 June 2008 will include discussions on the role of centrosomal proteins in bipolar spindle formation focusing on the TACC proteins and ch-Tog. I will also present our recent data concerning a novel candidate pathway of immune synapse formation and discuss how our findings relate to cell polarity. Finally, I will explore the possibility that overlapping molecular mechanisms contribute to the assembly of the primary cilium and to that of the immune synapse.

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