Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology

Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

Director, Program in Cell and Molecular Biology

Box 3813

C359 LSRC bldg

Duke University Medical Center

Durham, NC 27710

Tel (919) 613-8627

Fax (919) 681-1005

Email daniel.lew@duke.edu

daniel.lew@duke.edu

jmc32@duke.edu

In order to complete mitosis, the cell must have a bud. How does it sense that a bud has formed? Our lab has determined that Hsl1p responds to the change in cell shape that accompanies budding and then initiates Swe1p degradation, thus allowing the cell to proceed through mitosis. I am interested in finding out how cell shape regulates Hsl1p.

audrey.howell@duke.edu

My work is focused on understanding how cells establish an axis of polarity. I am using live-cell microscopy to follow the polarization of key proteins involved in polarity establishment in a variety of genetic backgrounds.

jmj5@duke.edu

I am interested in how cells maintain an axis of polarity. In yeast, cells need to polarize their growth under two conditions: budding and mating. In response to mating pheromone, cells form a mating projection or shmoo. In order to form a shmoo successfully, cells need to establish an axis of polarity and maintain that axis in order to localize their growth to one site on the cell cortex. To address the question of how cells stabilize an axis of polarity once it is formed, I am using genetic and microscopic tools to tease apart the roles of various proteins known to play a part in polarity establishment.

kmk18.edu

Polarized growth in budding yeast is essential for forming new buds. This new bud must be formed before the end of mitosis so that the DNA can be partitioned into the two cell bodies. If there is a problem with the bud formation, the cell will arrest in G2 at the morphogenesis checkpoint. This checkpoint is dependent on the protein Swe1. But how does Swe1p know when there is a problem? My research tries to shed some light on this question. By causing transient depolarization in cells via stress (heat, salt, sugar, ethanol), I can use genetic and microscopy methods to examine how Swe1p regulators are involved in the morphogenesis checkpoint.

koji.saito@duke.edu

I study the regulatory mechanism of Cdc24p phosphorylation. Cdc24p undergoes cell-cycle regulated hyperphosphorylation. However, how Cdc24p phosphorylation is regulated during the cell cycle and its functional consequence remain unclear. I would like to elucidate this molecular mechanism.

lee.szkotnicki@duke.edu

My project focuses on the cell cycle side of the lab where I am looking at regulation of Swe1p, the kinase responsible for the morphogenesis checkpoint delay. Through use of a genetic screen I identified an upstream regulator of Swe1p. Currently I am using a variety of genetic and biochemical techniques to determine the specific role this regulator is playing in cell cycle control.