A comparative approach to understanding nuclear division

Mitotic division ensures the faithful inheritance of genetic material in proliferating eukaryotic cells. Errors in this process often lead to developmental defects and disease. The cellular genome is enclosed within the nucleus, which is bounded by a double membrane termed the 'nuclear envelope'. To facilitate the inheritance of genetic material, eukaryotic cells use a diverse set of cell type-specific and organism-specific mechanisms, which range from fully 'open' to fully 'closed' mitosis with varying degrees of nuclear envelope breakdown. Dr Oliferenko will investigate the mechanisms that cells use to dynamically restructure the nuclear envelope during mitosis to allow chromosome segregation and the formation of daughter nuclei.