Research Notes — Dr. Tsai’s research published in Nature Cell Biology

Ming-Ying Tsai, Ph.D.

Ming-Ying Tsai, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Eppley Institute, was a co-investigator on research findings that were published in the Feb. 8 issue of the scientific journal, Nature Cell Biology.

The research suggests that the mitotic spindle, a structure essential to the separation of chromosomes during cell division, functions as the center of organization of cellular contents during the cell division process.

Understanding the important role of the spindle will reveal how the process of cell division contributes to the normal and abnormal development of the organism.

The research specifically targets the differences in mitotic spindle function between normal cells and those that develop into cancer.

One of the projects in Dr. Tsai’s laboratory exploits these differences to deliver drug therapy to only tumor cells, thus possibly eliminating the drug’s side effects.

Click here to read the full version of the Nature Cell Biology article.

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