In the News...

Wadsworth Scientist "Covers" Nature Cell Biology

The mammalian kinetochore is a multi-component organelle whose dysfunction is linked to a number of major health problems including cancer, birth defects and miscarriages. The cover of the May issue of Nature Cell Biology features an image of the kinetochore from a paper by a team of Wadsworth scientists led by Dr. Bruce McEwen.

The paper provides new insight into the kinetochore structure and how it binds to the mitotic spindle. This information is critical for understanding the kinetochore's role in maintaining genomic stability and for designing new chemotherapeutic approaches that target the kinetochore.

The outer plate in vertebrate kinetochores is a flexible network with multiple microtubule interactions. Nature Cell Biology - 9, 516 - 522 (2007).

Additional authors from Wadsworth Center and the School of Public Health are Yimin Dong, Kristin J. Vanden Beldt, Xing Meng and Alexey Khodjakov.