Ludwig San Diego’s Karen Oegema and Arshad Desai have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of their contributions to cell and developmental biology. Karen has made landmark discoveries on the role centrosomes play in the proliferation of healthy and malignant cells, which often have multiple copies of the organelle. Her lab has also developed powerful systems to study the functional genetics of embryogenesis using the roundworm C.elegans as a model system. Arshad has made major contributions to our understanding of how dividing cells parcel out equal numbers of chromosomes to their daughter cells. His lab has identified molecular checkpoints and other critical mechanisms that enforce fidelity in that process and are essential to ensuring genome stability during cell division. In collaboration with Karen’s lab, Arshad’s team has also been exploring the therapeutic potential of centrosome-targeting for cancer therapy.
This article appeared in the September 2022 issue of Ludwig Link. Click here to download a PDF (1 MB).