#IDIBELLseminars: Microtubule nucleation: how making new microtubules supports brain development.

Microtubules mediate a range of essential cellular processes such as mitotic spindle assemble and segregation of chromosomes during cell division, intracellular transport, or cell polarization. All of these functions are crucial during brain development where mitotic and non-mitotic roles of microtubules need to be tightly coordinated. However, whereas we have a fairly good understanding of microtubule network organization in cultured cell lines, how this is achieved during neural development remains largely unknown. I will discuss our recent progress in identifying molecular players and mechanisms in neural progenitors and in neurons that allow assembly and remodeling of microtubule arrays suited to support both proliferation and neuronal differentiation.

Hosted by Artur Llobet, Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology Group

Education:

2000: PhD in Biology, University of Heidelberg, Germany

2001-2003: Postdoc, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany (Laboratory of Stefan Jentsch)
Work on protein folding and degradation

2003-2007: Postdoc, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
(Laboratory of Tim Stearns)
Work on microtubule organization

2008-present: Group leader at IRB Barcelona, studying the molecular mechanisms underlying the organization of the microtubule cytoskeleton and how defects are linked to disease.