ABOUT ME

I am an enthusiast of centrosomes and the cytoskeleton in cell biology and biophysics, focused on basic building blocks and evolutionary principles underlying the presence and function of centrosomes in animal cells. Centrosome is extremely important, but the full impact of its existence is unknown, correlating with its "hard-to-study" character due to its immense complexity. It generates and organizes microtubules, railways for cargo transport inside cells, without which neither cell would move nor would it divide. 

So far, to understand the centrosome more, I looked at the mechanisms of how it regulates microtubule nucleation. I used biochemical techniques and developed new approaches for microtubule manipulation in human cells (see more in Microtubule Nucleation). Then I revealed the principle of how centrosome core is formed. Learning electron microscopy and structural biology techniques opened a new style of thinking (Centriole Assembly). The best super-resolution technique in the world, expansion microscopy (RESOURCES), opened a new dimensions and help me to reveal regulation of cilia function (BBSsome Assembly). 

However, since biochemical techniques are limited to eye-invisible samples and microscopy provides great resolution but cannot show function-related properties, I decided to study the centrosome using biophysical approaches in project CentrosomeInsight and assign mechanics to mechanisms of centrosome building blocks in project BRICK .