McAinsh Lab

Research Summary

Cell division is fundamental to the existence of life. A key part of this process involves the accurate separation of the chromosomes into the two daughter cells - a process called mitosis. Errors in chromosome segregation drive chromosomal instability, aneuploidy and cancer development.

Dr. McAinsh's lab of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and technicians are focused on understanding the mechanisms by which kinetochores power chromosome segregation. Approaches in the McAinsh lab include live-cell microscope-based assays, computational image analysis, mathematical modelling and in vitro reconstitution. We are supported by grants from the BBSRC and MRC.

Warwick Profile | Personal lab pages | My Bibliography

Andrew McAinsh, Ph.D is an Associate Professor at Warwick Medical School. He received his BSc. from Masnchester, Ph.D. from the Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, UK, and trained as a postdoctoral fellow with Peter Sorger at the Massachuestts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.

Selected Publications

Drechsler, H., McHugh, T., Singleton, M.R., Carter, N.J., McAinsh, A.D. (2014) The Kinesin-12 Kif15 is a processive track-switching tetramer. Elife. 2014 Mar 25;3:e01724. doi: 10.7554/eLife.01724 PubMed

Cross, R.A., McAinsh, A. (2014) Prime movers: the mechanochemistry of mitotic kinesins. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2014 Mar 21;15(4):257-71. doi: 10.1038/nrm3768 PubMed

Vázquez-Novelle, M.D., Sansregret, L., Dick, A.E., Smith, C.A., McAinsh, A.D., Gerlich, D.W., Petronczki, M. (2014) Cdk1 inactivation terminates mitotic checkpoint surveillance and stabilizes kinetochore attachments in anaphase. Current Biology 24 1 - 8 PubMed

Vladimirou, E., Mchedlishvili, N., Gasic, I., Armond, J.W., Samora, C.P., Meraldi, P., and McAinsh, A.D. (2013) Nonautonomous movement of chromosomes in mitosis. Developmental Cell, 27: 60-71 PubMed

Lab Members and Projects

	Chris Smith \| PhD Student I am investigating structural changes in the kinetochore and how this correlates with directional switching of individual sister chromatids.
	Elina Vladimirou \| Research Fellow I am interested in investigating the mechanics that control chromosome directional instability during metaphase and anaphase using live-cell imaging, mathematical and computational tools.
	Virginia Silio \| Research Fellow My project sets out to determine the mechanisms by which the spindle assembly checkpoint is silenced in human cells, as part of a joint MRC programme grant with the Millar Laboratory
	Ed Harry \| PhD Student I am interested in chromosome mechanics and building a mathematical model of kinetochore oscillations. I will be using molecular biology / cell cloning techniques along with developing advanced image analysis algorithms to track kinetochores.
	Muriel Erent \| Research Associate I am developing gene targetting approaches in human cells and investigating how kinetochores control kinetochore-microtubule dynamics.
	Hauke Drechsler \| Research Fellow I want to address the question of how and why the dependency on subsets of motors and microtubule associated proteins switches and rebalances as mitosis progresses.
	Phil Auckland \| PhD student depolymerisation coupler: my work is focused on understanding how kinetochores track depolymerizing microtubules and how this process is regulated