Craig A. Mandato

The Mandato lab is interested in eukaryotic cells cytokinesis or fission. Aberrant cytokinesis results in aneuploidy, which is the leading cause of spontaneous miscarriages in humans and is the hallmark of many human cancers. During animal cell cytokinesis a contractile ring composed of actin filaments and myosin-2 is responsible for generating the force necessary for the fission event, while microtubules are responsible for directing the assembly of the contractile ring. The force needed for cellular locomotion is also generated by actin filaments and myosin-2 and is controlled by microtubules. Given the significance of these cellular functions to both normal and pathological human physiology, the goal of the Mandato lab is to understand the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. To address these issues methodologically, the Mandato lab uses cell biological and in vivo (frog) approaches.