Welcome to the Grishchuk Lab
Our goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms that produce force and accuracy for mitotic chromosome motions during cell division. We use biophysical, cell biological and computational approaches to study kinetochore proteins, which function as efficient nanomachines: they can capture the energy from microtubule disassembly and provide lasting attachments between the chromosomes and dynamic microtubule ends. There are no man-made or natural macro-devices that function analogously to these couplers, so understanding their principle mechanisms presents a significant challenge. Rigorous understanding of how microtubules attach to chromosomal kinetochores should ultimately assist developing novel and more specific anticancer drugs.
Current and past support for our work comes from
National Science Foundation
Charles E. Kaufman Foundation of The Pittsburgh Foundation
National Institutes of General Medical Sciences, NIH
The Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research
The American Cancer Society
Pennsylvania Muscle Institute
Nano-Bio Interface Center, University of Pennsylvania
McCabe Fund, University of Pennsylvania
Featured
●American Society for Cell Biology and the European Molecular Biology Organization Meeting
03 December 2022 - 07 December 2022 | Washington DC
Katya Tarasovetc gave a Microsymposium talk and presented a poster titled: “Clustering of the scaffolding protein CENP-T activates recruitment of Ndc80 complexes to assemble a functionally active outer kinetochore”.
● Evolution, Structure, Regulation and Function of Centromeres in Health and Disease | Gordon Research Conference
24 July 2022 - 29 July 2022 | Mount Snow VT
Katya Grishchuk gave a talk: "Kinetochore Assembly Mechanisms: Lessons from In Vitro Reconstruction of the Ndc80 Recruitment via CENP-T Pathway".
Katya Tarasovetc presented a poster titled: "Clustering of scaffolding protein CENP-T activates recruitment of Ndc80 complexes to assemble functionally active kinetochore-like particles".
Sasha Maiorov presented a poster titled: "CLASP2 stabilizes GDP-associated terminal tubulins to prevent microtubule catastrophe"
● Molecular Machines: From Biophysics To Physiology To Disease | Gordon Research Conference
10 July 2022 - 15 July 2022 | Mount Snow VT
Katya Grishchuk gave a talk "Microtubule End Stabilization by the CLASP2 Protein"
● Biology Graduate Student Extravaganza with keynote speaker Katya Tarasovetc:
"Unexpected Role Of Macromolecular Crowding In Human Kinetochore Assembly "
25 March 2022, 4:30 pm The Tedori Famiy Auditorium of Levin
● We are going virtual! Wangxi Luo‘s work was featured in Katya Grishchuk’s talk at The Socially Distant Centromere Meeting in June 2020
● Congratulations to Taya for receiving Diploma with honours! She completed specialist programme in the Pharmacy field of study at Lomonosov Moscow State University, School of Medicine in June 2020.
● The Biophysical Society Meeting 2020
February 15-19, 2020 San Diego California
Shaowen Wu presented a poster describing his work on Dam1. Katya Grishchuk gave a talk at the Motility Subgroup meeting
● Philly Materials Science and Engineering Day
1 February 2020 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Andrey Mikheev, PhD and Akhmadbek Asadov presented a demonstration of Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction.
● 6th Chesapeake Bay Area Single Molecule Biology Meeting
9 November 2019 | Baltimore, Maryland
Andrey Mikheev, PhD presented poster on his project "Designing a mechano-chemical hybrid hydrogel based on a bistable kinase-phosphatase switch integrated in collagen meshwork."
● The 2020 Early Career Investigator Award
Dmitry Nechipurenko has been awarded the 2020 Karl Link Early Career Investigator Award in Thrombosis. Our paper “Clot contraction drives the translocation of procoagulant platelets to thrombus surface,”(link to the paper) was selected as the most outstanding paper published during 2019 in the Thrombosis section of the journal. Congratulations Dima!
● Dynamic Kinetochore Workshop 2019
27 – 30 August 2019 | Paris, France
Katya Grishchuk gave a talk featuring work by Shaowen Wu on Dam1 complex
● Mitotic spindle: From living and synthetic systems to theory
24 – 27 March 2019 | Split, Croatia
Katya Grishchuk among the invited speakers
● 4th Chesapeake Bay Area Single Molecule Biology Meeting
10 November 2018 | Washington, DC
Wangxi Luo, PhD and Ivan Gonchar presented posters on their on-going work
● The Structure, Function and Evolution of Centromeres | Gordon Research Conference
29 July – 3 August 2018 | Mount Snow, VT
● Department of Physiology Retreat
8 June 2018 | Merion Tribute House, PA
Volodya Demidov was selected to present his work “Ultrafast force-clamp spectroscopy reveals “sliding” catch-bond behavior of the microtubule binding NDC80 protein”.
● Congratulations to Katya Tarasovetc and her co-authors for publishing their new paper in Biophysical Journal. See featured video here. Well done!
● Congratulations to Katya Tarasovetc for successfully passing her comprehensive exam (May 2018). Good job, Katya!
● The 2018 Mid-Atlantic Mitosis and Meiosis Meeting
2 – 3 April 2018 | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Katya Grishchuk gave a keynote lecture “Chromosomes on the edge: coupling kinetochores to dynamic microtubule ends”.
● 62nd Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society
17 – 21 February 2018 | San Francisco, CA
Congratulations to Volodya Demidov for receiving a travel award. Volodya presented his work at the “Cytoskeletal Assemblies and Dynamics” platform.
Contact Us
Grishchuk Lab
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
675 Clinical Research Building
415 Curie Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6085
215-746-8177
