Aaron Straight
Academic Appointments
- Associate Professor, Biochemistry
- Member, Bio-X
- Member, Stanford Cancer Institute
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Scientific Focus
Current Research Interests
Our goal is to understand how chromosomes are faithfully transmitted during cell division. The laboratory studies the structure and biology of chromosomes and the mechanisms of chromosome segregation during mitosis. The primary site for chromosomal interaction with the mitotic spindle is a specialized region of the chromosome called the kinetochore. We are studying how the position of the kinetochore is determined along the length of the chromosome, how kinetochores are assembled, and how kinetochores are activated to bind microtubules and produce forces for chromosome segregation. We use digital microscopy to extract quantitative information about the dynamics of chromosomes in living cells, biochemical reconstitution to assemble kinetochores in vitro, and genetics to manipulate the chromosome segregation process in order to study how chromosome-distribution systems function in eukaryotes.
Publications
- CENP-A confers a reduction in height on octameric nucleosomes. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2013
- Esperanto for histones: CENP-A, not CenH3, is the centromeric histone H3 variant. Chromosome Res. 2013; (2): 101-6
- Functions of the centromere and kinetochore in chromosome segregation. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2013
- A cell-free system for functional centromere and kinetochore assembly. Nat Protoc. 2012; (10): 1847-69
- Imaging nanometre-scale structure in cells using in situ aberration correction. J Microsc. 2012; (1): 90-101
- The split personality of CENP-A nucleosomes. Cell. 2012; (2): 245-7
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