The Welburn lab
To maintain genomic integrity, eukaryotic cells must replicate their DNA faithfully and distribute it equally to daughter cells. Mitotic defects lead to aneuploidy and cancer. The accurate segregation of chromosomes is mediated by polarised and highly dynamic filaments, known as microtubules. Microtubules depend on motor proteins for their assembly into the mitotic spindle and for chromosome segregation. We aim to define how kinesin motors are modulated by their cargos to provide a specific output and how their coordinated activities are greater than the sum of their individual activities in vitro and in human cells. Our current goals are to define how (1) microtubule motors interact with the kinetochore and (2) the roles of mitotic motors in microtubule dynamics and spindle positioning.
Intrinsically disordered domain of kinesin-3 Kif14 enables unique functional diversity
Ben Craske, Gaetan Dias Mirandela, Thibault Legal and Toni McHugh
Resolving kinesin stepping: one head at a time
Ben Craske, Gaetan Dias Mirandela, Thibault Legal and Toni McHugh
Activation of intracellular transport by relieving KIF1C autoinhibition
Ben Craske, Gaetan Dias Mirandela, Thibault Legal and Toni McHugh
Drosophila kinesin-8 stabilises kinetochore-microtubule interaction
Ben Craske, Gaetan Dias Mirandela, Thibault Legal and Toni McHugh
Structural Basis of Tubulin Recruitment and Assembly by Tumor Overexpressed Gene (TOG) domain array Microtubule Polymerases
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Roles for tubulin recruitment and self-organization by TOG domain arrays in Microtubule plus-end tracking and polymerase
Ben Craske, Gaetan Dias Mirandela, Thibault Legal and Toni McHugh
Optogenetic reconstitution reveals that Dynein-Dynactin-NuMA clusters generate cortical spindle-pulling forces as a multi-arm ensemble
Ben Craske, Gaetan Dias Mirandela, Thibault Legal and Toni McHugh