Our research focuses on the cytoskeletal machinery for cell morphogenesis. We want to know how microtubules become dynamically patterned into specific arrays and how these arrays guide cell wall deposition to impart cell shape. Our work uses a synergistic combination of live imaging, in vitro reconstitution at single-molecule resolution, molecular genetics and computational modeling. This multidisciplinary approach has allowed us to discover new components and mechanisms underlying the complex and multi-scale process linking microtubule dynamics and organization to cell shape determination.
Latest Lab News
Katherine awarded William H. Danforth Plant Sciences Fellowship
Congratulations Katherine!
Will receives NSF-GRFP Fellowship
Will McHargue receives NSF-GRFP Fellowship. Congrats Will!
Ram’s perspective published in Plant Cell
Ram’s perspective on the cortical microtubule cytoskeleton as a mechanosensory apparatus is part of the “Fifteen compelling open questions in plant cell biology”, published by The Plant Cell.
We are part of the NSF-funded Science and Technology Center for Engineering Mechanobiology (https://cemb.upenn.edu/) which seeks to understand how mechanical forces impact biology at molecular, cellular and tissue scales.
Contact Us
Contact us at:
Biology Department
Washington University in St. Louis
1 Brookings Dr, CB 1137
St. Louis, MO 63130.
Lab phone: (314) 935 9080