Project group leader Kaisa Haglund Cytokinesis in development and carcinogenesis
Research interests
The long-term goal of our research is to gain understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cytokinesis, the final step of cell division, and how its deregulation may be involved in promoting cancer development.
Cytokinesis and carcinogenesis
Cytokinesis proceeds through a series of temporally and spatially tightly controlled events orchestrated by cellular machineries regulating microtubule and actin dynamics, membrane trafficking and fusion, ultimately leading to cleavage furrow ingression, intercellular bridge formation and physical separation of the two daughter cells by abscission. Failure of cytokinesis may give rise to tetraploid cells with multiple centrosomes that may in turn be unable to segregate their chromosomes properly. This may cause genetic instability and aneuploidy, which are believed to contribute to cancer progression. However, we are only beginning to understand the molecular mechanisms by which cytokinesis occurs and how cytokinesis defects may be related to cancer development.
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