Iain Cheeseman

Iain Cheeseman[1] investigates the role of the kinetochore, a group of proteins required for cell division and chromosome segregation. This core network of proteins facilitates the attachment of chromosomes to microtubule polymers—the spindle structures that attach to the ends of cells, pulling and dividing them during cell division. The kinetochore is critical to ensuring duplication without loss or damage to the genetic material. Cheeseman is also investigating the activities of the individual molecular machines that make up this structure and how these proteins are controlled and regulated.[2]

Iain Cheeseman
CitizenshipUSA
Alma materDuke University
Known forKinetochore research
AwardsHarold W. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (2003)
Fellow, Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research (2003)
Kerr Award for Research Excellence, Ludwig Institute (2004)
Smith Family New Investigator Award (2007)
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
InstitutionsLudwig Institute for Cancer Research University of California, San Diego
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (Cambridge, MA)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Career

Cheeseman is noted for discovering multiple new kinetochore proteins within yeast, the Caenorhabditis elegans worm and human cells.[3][4][5] He has focused particularly on the proteins that are required to generate connections with spindle microtubules. He recently demonstrated a critical and direct role for a protein complex called Ndc80 (coded for by the gene NDC80) in directly associating with microtubules.[6]

Because many cancers may be driven by errors in chromosome segregation, it is hoped that Cheeseman's studies will provide payoffs in cancer research. Certain cancer drugs target the connection between chromosomes and spindle microtubules, and some of the major proteins in the kinetochore complex have been implicated in leukemia and other diseases.

Cheeseman is currently a junior Faculty Member at Whitehead Institute and a professor at MIT. He did his undergraduate training at Duke University, and his graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a doctorate in 2002. Cheeseman carried out his postdoctoral work in the lab of Arshad Desai at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in San Diego and the University of California, San Diego.

He is a member of the editorial board for Current Biology.[7]

References
  1. Short B (September 2009). "Iain Cheeseman: A strong attachment to kinetochores". J. Cell Biol. 186 (6): 770–771. doi:10.1083/jcb.1866pi. PMC 2753165. PMID 19752023.
  2. Welburn JP, Cheeseman IM (November 2008). "Toward a molecular structure of the eukaryotic kinetochore". Dev Cell. 15 (5): 645–55. doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2008.10.011. PMID 19000831.
  3. Kline SL, Cheeseman IM, Hori T, Fukagawa T, Desai A (April 2006). "The human Mis12 complex is required for kinetochore assembly and proper chromosome segregation". J. Cell Biol. 173 (1): 9–17. doi:10.1083/jcb.200509158. PMC 2063780. PMID 16585270.
  4. Cheeseman IM, Niessen S, Anderson S, Hyndman F, Yates JR 3rd, Oegema K, Desai A (September 2004). "A conserved protein network controls assembly of the outer kinetochore and its ability to sustain tension". Genes Dev. 18 (18): 2255–68. doi:10.1101/gad.1234104. PMC 517519. PMID 15371340.
  5. Cheeseman IM, Brew C, Wolyniak M, Desai A, Anderson S, Muster N, Yates JR, Huffaker TC, Drubin DG, Barnes G (December 2001). "Implication of a novel multiprotein Dam1p complex in outer kinetochore function". J. Cell Biol. 155 (7): 1137–45. doi:10.1083/jcb.200109063. PMC 2199314. PMID 11756468.
  6. Wilson-Kubalek EM, Cheeseman IM, Yoshioka C, Desai A, Milligan RA (September 2008). "Orientation and structure of the Ndc80 complex on the microtubule lattice". J Cell Biol. 182 (6): 1055–61. doi:10.1083/jcb.200804170. PMC 2542468. PMID 18794333.
  7. "Advisory board: Current Biology".
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