Millions in funding for a new international study on cell division
University of Dundee and Max Planck Institute aim to unveil the biological 'morse code' of cell division in a new study
A multi-million Pound study of the University of Dundee in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund intends to reveal the workings of cellular “light switches” that are a potential cause of cancer. In a interdisciplinary European collaboration the scientists will join forces to shed light on the signals that drive cell division, an essential process that allows human bodies to develop and repair injuries.
It is well known that our cells must switch signals on or off to divide, but what remains unclear is why some signals must “flash” continually on and off for our cells to divide properly. This flashing can control the way in which cells behave and, if malfunctioning, could lead to health consequences, including the development of cancer. Decoding these hidden signals could explain how cells divide accurately, how this process goes wrong in diseases like cancer, and how these could potentially be treated better.
This new, eight-year project is funded by a £4 million award from Wellcome.
The study’s lead Principal Investigator, Professor Adrian Saurin, from the University’s Faculty of Health, said, “Many of the proteins inside our cells are controlled by chemical tags – phosphates – which are effectively light switches. They attach to proteins to turn them ‘on’ and when they detach this turns them ‘off’ again.”
“We know a huge amount about which proteins are turned ‘on’ or ‘off’ at any given time in our cells, but what we don’t know is how quickly these proteins can “flash” on and off over time”
“So we’re missing a huge part of the puzzle, because the rate that these signals flash could effectively be a form of biological morse code, which sends messages to control the behaviour.”
“We have now created the first tools to decipher this code, which we hope will explain how our cells divide accurately, and shine a light on how this can be used to benefit patients affected by cancer.”
Professor Andrea Musacchio, director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology and also a co-investigator, said “Our expertise in the biochemical reconstitution of the kinetochore complements the diverse skillsets of our team and gives us the opportunity to understand these patterns during cell division in healthy cells, and what goes wrong in cancer cells that allow them to evolve and become resistant to chemotherapy.”
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