Microtubules are key players in the organization of cellular space.
They are involved in the positioning organelles during interphase, in the polarized transport of vesicles in differentiated cells and in cellular morphogenesis in general. During mitosis, their organization into a bipolar spindle allows the segregation of chromosomes to the two daughter cells. In the past years we have been working on the mechanism of mitotic spindle assembly that we took as an interesting example of morphogenesis at the cellular level. The preferential stabilization of microtubules around chromosomes seems to be mediated by phosphorylation dephosphorylation reactions of Microtubule Associated Proteins and of microtubule destabilizing proteins. Future projects Understand what is the nature of the effect of chromatin on microtubule dynamics during mitosis, identify microtubule regulators involved in spindle assembly and how phosphorylation reactions participate in morphogenesis of the mitotic spindle.