Dr. Gary Conrad's laboratory
"During division of animal cells, chromosomes/DNA are separated on a beautiful apparatus ("mitosis"), whereas the bulk of the cell ("cytoplasm") is divided by "cytokinesis". The latter is achieved by an extraordinary mechanical process in which the cell pinches itself in half, with force being exerted as a constricting furrow of the surface membrane, converting the cell briefly into a dumb-bell shape until the furrow cuts the neck in half. Normal cells and tumor/cancer cells both undergo cell division, but the details differ, leading normal cells to divide under control, but cancer cells to divide without control. We compare normal and cancer cells as they undergo cytokinesis.
Vertebrate cells make, secrete, and then lie embedded in gels of large proteins that are generally linked to very long chains of sugars (polysaccharides). These extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules provide mechanical support to cells, and also serve as highways along which cells—and the ends of nerves—migrate. ECM contains many signals that cells "read" to decide whether to keep moving in a certain direction, or whether to stop and divide (mitosis and cytokinesis), or whether to stop and become a specialized type of cell (differentiation). We study these interactions between cells and ECM during embryonic eye development, especially in the cornea—the very tough, normally transparent, highly innervated ocular surface tissue (on which a contact lens is placed). Thankfully, the cornea rarely becomes cancerous, mainly because it rarely allows development of blood vessels. We study how the cornea becomes and remains transparent and what molecular features of its ECM repels blood vessels and prevents cancer cells from forming or growing there."
