How do complexity and reliability go together?

Elucidating the principles of accurate cell division.

We investigate how cells grow and divide - highly dynamic processes that require intricate regulation. We use live cell imaging, molecular genetics, biochemistry and computational modeling to understand the underlying regulation.

We are always looking for undergraduate students with programming skills to develop and modify image analysis pipelines.

News

2024-09 - We are excited about and grateful for new funding by NSF to study ultra-low gene expression noise.
2024-05 - Congratulations to Cameron and Max, who have graduated. And welcome to our new undergraduate researchers, Jamie and Justine.
2024-01 - We are very excited to have the José Vargas-Muñiz lab as our new neighbors, who share our passion for fungi.
2023-08 - Doug’s paper reporting on the ultra-low noise of spindle assembly checkpoint genes is published. Thanks to Ramon and Abhi for a great collaboration!
2023-06 - Big thanks to NIGMS for funding our newest projects!

+ Previous news

2023-03 - We have a new undergraduate researcher, Liv Erickson, who just received an Anne McNabb Fellowship! Anne is a wonderful professor emerita in our department, and the fellowship was established by three of her former mentees. Huge thanks to them!
2022-07 - Eric’s and Doug’s paper is published!
2022-05 - Anna presented at the Undergraduate Research Conference and is graduating (congratulations!).
2022-04 - Congratulations to former undergraduate student Eric Esposito, who will be going to Harvard Medical School/MIT for his MD studies.
2022-03 - Drisya’s paper is published!
2021-05 - Jessie got her M.Sc. degree and starts as a high school teacher and science mentor.
2021-05 - Mitch is graduating (congratulations!), and will be starting Ph.D. studies at Cornell in fall.
2021-04 - Anna received a Fralin Undergraduate Research Fellowship and will be continuing her research over the summer!
2021-02 - Drisya is joining Shiv Grewal's lab at the NIH. Congratulations! We are looking forward to seeing the exciting research you'll do there.
2021-01 - Anna Makarov has joined as a new undergraduate researcher. Welcome!
2020-10 - Erod’s paper on fission yeast 3D segmentation is published.
2020-08 - Our high school researcher Claire is leaving to start college at Stanford. We wish her all the best and are curious about her future endeavors.
2020-08 - We have two new undergraduate students working on image analysis: Nicky Huynh and Yimeng Liu. Welcome!
2020-06 - Congratulations to Wendi, who - against her will - got certified by ASBMB with distinction.
2020-05 - Happy to be back in the lab! But only at 2 - 3 people capacity.
2020-04 - Everyone working from home - except Tatiana, who is helping with virus testing. Big thanks to her and everyone involved!
2020-03 - Congratulations to Jessie who received an Honorable Mention for her NSF-GRFP application!
2020-03 - Big congratulations to Claire, who did not only win her category, but also the Grand Award at the Regional Science Fair at Radford University. Claire now would have been headed for the International Science and Engineering Fair in California… if coronavirus hadn’t hit the world!
2019-12 - We spent an inspiring time at the ASCB/EMBO meeting in Washington, DC - sharing a house with our VT colleagues from the Cimini and Chen groups
2019-10 - Janina Müller has joined us from Germany for a 4-month intership.
2019-09 - Josh Pribadi and Mitch Woodhouse are starting as new undergraduate students. Welcome!
2019-07 - We are sad to say farewell to Eric and Kaysha. Eric is starting in the Postbac program at NIH; Kaysha is joining Shihoko Kojima’s lab in our department.
2019-07 - Summer lab trip: peach picking and sharp top
2019-05 - 2019-07 - Summer conferences: Eric attended the Gordon Conference on Chromosome Dynamics, Doug went to BirdsCaribbean, and Silke to the EMBO workshops on Chromosome Segregation and Aneuploidy, on Fission Yeast, and to the Cell Cycle Meeting.
2019-04 - Claire, Erod and Wendi have been presenting at the VT Undergraduate Research Symposium.
2019-04 - Claire Morton won her category at the Regional Science Fair and won third place in her category at the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair. Big congratulations!
2019-02 - Erod Baybay won first poster prize at the Departmental Research Day. Congratulations!
2018-12 - Lab trip to the art museum in Roaonoke + creative pottery
2018-10 - Joseph Stefano is receiving one of the department’s undergraduate research awards.
2018-09 - Kaysha Perrin has joined the group to speed up our generation of yeast strains with interesting modifications.
2018-09 - New paper with Fridolin Gross and Andrea Ciliberto on mitotic checkpoint signaling.
2018-07 - Silke has been at the FASEB conference on “Yeast Chromosome Biology & Cell Cycle”.
2018-07 - Erod and Kenrick have been presenting at the summer undergraduate research symposium.
2018-04 - Haoyun accepted a graduate student position at Ohio State University. We are very happy for him, but sad to see him leave.
2018-04 - Haoyun and Silke were at the M4 (Mid-Atlantic Mitosis and Meiosis Meeting). Ellen Garcia from Daniela Cimini's group was one of the co-organizers.
2018-02 - Haoyun and Eric presented a poster at our yearly Research Day.
2017-12 - Doug, Eric and Silke are at the ASCB/EMBO Meeting in Philadelphia.
2017-11/12 - Varun and Drisya have started as new postdocs. Welcome!
2017-08 - Eric was awarded a Fralin Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations!
2017-08 - International Conference for Systems Biology here at Virginia Tech, and our collaborator Alex Anyaegbunam from Stefan Legewie's group at the IMB in Mainz, Germany, is visiting to discuss our project.
2017-07 - We hiked to the beautiful Cascades to go swimming.
2017-05 - Lots of new people in the lab: George Murray has joined over the summer to work on the synchronicity of chromosome separation; Doug Weidemann will join us as technician in June; and Eric Esposito, Jessie Rogers, Nicholas Anderson, and Stephan Kim will be doing undergraduate research over the summer.
2017-04 - Tatiana and Silke have been marching for science.
2017-04 - Katharina's paper on Cdc20 inhibition by the mitotic checkpoint has come out in Current Biology. Also check out the related paper by Kevin Hardwick's group.
2017-03 - We have been on retreat with the Ciliberto group in Italy! Lots of science, and lots of fun.