Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( 🔒 ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Need Help

Mechanisms of cell shape change in cytokinesis

Award Number: R35GM144238
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/01/2022
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2026

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Mechanisms of cell shape change in cytokinesis - Project Summary Cytokinesis is the physical division of one cell into two. This final step of the mitotic or meiotic cell cycle partitions the duplicated and segregated genome into topologically distinct daughter cells, and thus ensures genome stability. Cytokinesis is essential for development of the fertilized egg into a multicellular organism, for the replenishment of tissues to compensate for wear and tear, and to avoid diseases of proliferation including cancer and some neutropenias (blood cell disorders). For over a century, people have marveled through the microscope at dividing animal cells, but major questions about the mechanisms of cytokinesis remain. Many of these questions fall under the three Themes of our research program: 1) the cytoskeletal rearrangements that drive contractility, 2) the role of feedback loops in cytokinetic regulation, and 3) modeling the mesoscale. In animal cytokinesis, the cell changes shape as a furrow forms at the cell equator, the region between the two masses of segregated chromatin, as defined by spatio-temporal cues from the anaphase spindle. These cues lead to local activation of RhoA at the plasma membrane. RhoA elicits non-muscle myosin II (NMMII) filament assembly and activity, the generation of long actin filaments (F-actin) by formins, and the cortical recruitment of crosslinkers including anillin and septins. In sum, a circumferential band of cortical actomyosin cytoskeleton assembles and contracts via rearrangement of these cytoskeletal components. F-actin is slid, bundled, crosslinked and coupled to the plasma membrane, polarity sorted, bent, broken and depolymerized. The biophysics of many nano-scale binding partnerships are well studied, but often with sparse collections and without confinement. Since the relative contributions of the many activities listed above to in vivo network dynamics are unknown, our first theme is to define the cytoskeletal remodeling that underlies contractility. After spindle cues pattern the cell equator, both biochemical and mechanical positive feedback boosts these signals. Concurrently, global and localized inhibition via negative feedback limits RhoA activity. Our unpublished observations of contractile oscillations suggest that multiple negative feedback loops coexist. The second theme of our work is the role of feedback loops in cytokinetic regulation. To develop a conceptual model of cytoskeletal rearrangements in cell division, one may imagine the nanoscale molecules and fibers and their millisecond behaviors literally woven into a dynamic material. Like biophysics and cell biology, respectively, mathematical modeling also describes cytoskeletal rearrangements at these two ends of the time- and length scales, via distinct approaches: particle-based modeling (nano- or micro- scale), or continuum mechanics theory (macro-scale). Since both families of approaches have limited ability to coarse grain the mesoscale spatial and temporal heterogeneities of the cytokinetic ring components’ activity states, behaviors, abundances, and combinations, we are working to understand cytokinetic cytoskeletal rearrangements and integrated regulation, by innovating methods to model the mesoscale (theme three).


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $382,063 )
2026	2026	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	5	1/7/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$343,857
2026	2026	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	001	5	3/11/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$38,206
														Subtotal = $382,063

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $382,258 )
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	001	4	2/18/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$344,032
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	003	4	8/6/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$38,226
2025	2024	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	3	11/6/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2025	2024	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	002	3	6/2/2025	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$0
														Subtotal = $382,258

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $496,420 )
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	002	3	6/28/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$38,244
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	3	1/17/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$344,202
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	001	3	1/18/2024	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$113,974
														Subtotal = $496,420

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $468,110 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	2	1/24/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$344,367
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	002	2	4/27/2023	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$85,480
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	001	2	3/23/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$38,263
														Subtotal = $468,110

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $632,509 )
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	000	1	12/29/2021	NEW	$382,809
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL	104 AIRPORT DR STE 2200	CHAPEL HILL	NC	27599	ORANGE	USA	Biomedical Research and Research Training	001	1	9/6/2022	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$249,700
														Subtotal = $632,509

Grand Total All Awards = $2,361,360

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Mechanisms of cell shape change in cytokinesis

Award Number: R35GM144238

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/01/2022

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2026

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer