The Hehnly Lab is super excited to get another 3 years of funding from the DOD on the project entitled: “Cenexin and Plk1: A sensor for Chromosome Alignment”. This project would have never gotten off the ground without the awesome studies by my talented graduate student Erica Colicino with contributions from many lab members (Mike Bates, Katrina Stevens, Alice Garrastegui, Erin Curtis, Lindsay Rathbun, Julie Manikas…) Check out the papers here:
Colicino et al. “Regulating a key mitotic regulator, PLK1” Cytoskeleton 2018
Colicino et al. “Gravin regulates centrosome function through PLK1” MBoC 2018
Also we had a really great collaboration with Dr. John Scott’s group, specifically his student Paula Bucko who worked with my graduate student Lindsay Rathbun to incorporate a chemical genetics system to inhibit PLK1 at centrosomes in zebrafish embryos. This study provides a great rationale for our current proposed studies to explore the role of PLK1 at centrosomes, specifically at mother centriole appendages, during cell division and its contribution to chromosome instability. Check out the collaborative study here:
Bucko PJ et al. “Subcellular drug targeting illuminates local kinase action” ELife 2020
STED image taken from Colicino et al. MBoC 2018