While we have a complete, or nearly complete, ''parts list'' of the hundreds of proteins and other biomolecules that make up the spindle, we lack a framework for predicting how these diverse molecules self-organize into cell-scale structures capable of producing forces and transmitting them to chromosomes over cellular length scales, up to tens of microns. In this talk, I will present data and analysis that suggests that many aspects of the large-scale structure and dynamics of living mammalian spindles can be understood by using theoretical concepts and experimental tools from condensed matter physics and soft matter physics. In particular, liquid-crystal-physics-based models explain observations of spindle shape and the pattern of microtubule orientation in the spindle interior. Liquid crystal models also naturally explain our observations of long-range forces, acting in the direction perpendicular to the spindle long axis, that act to separate condensed chromosomes from one another.
Colm Kelleher, Assistant Professor, Syracuse University
Host: Michelle Driscoll