Cell Growth & Division

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology

EDUCATION:
• AB, University of California at Berkeley
• PhD, University of California at San Diego

MEMBERSHIPS:
• Member of ASCB
• Member of ASBMB

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
The appropriate timing of cell division with respect to other events in a division cycle is critical for normal development of all eukaryotic organisms and for maintenance of normal ploidy. The Gould laboratory is primarily focused on understanding the mechanism of cytokinesis and the coordination of this process with nuclear division. Cell division requires the concerted action of many proteins. The Gould laboratory is working to define genetically and biochemically the key proteins necessary for cell division and to learn how they work together. Another goal is to understand how the assembly and disassembly of the cytokinetic apparatus is regulated by the core cell cycle machinery. As with so many biological processes, the division process is modulated by post-translational control of its components, especially phosphorylation and ubiquitination. We are interested in how a GTPase-regulated protein kinase pathway termed the SIN intersects with the core cell cycle engine and how information flows through the pathway to impact cell division proteins. The laboratory also studies ubiquitinating and deubiquitinating enzymes and protein phosphatases that regulate cell division.