Dr. Francis McNally
Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
University of California, Davis
Host: Stacey Hanlon

Mechanisms Unique to Female Meiosis

Summary: Meiosis is required for reproduction in animals and defects in female meiosis are a common cause of infertility in humans. Female meiosis is unique in two respects. First, it is asymmetric, with a diploid oocyte producing a single mature egg in contrast with a symmetrically dividing spermatocyte that generates four sperm. Second, fertilization occurs during female meiosis in nearly all animal species. Mechanisms that position the meiotic spindle and sperm contents to prevent premature interactions between maternal and paternal genomes will be discussed.

About Dr. McNally: As a PhD student with Jasper Rine, Dr. McNally defined a minimal transcriptional silencer in budding yeast. As a postdoc with Ron Vale, Dr. McNally isolated the microtubule-severing ATPase, katanin. He started his own research group at UC Davis in 1994, where in collaboration with Paul Mains, he found that katanin was specifically required for female meiotic spindle assembly in C. elegans. His research group has been elucidating mechanisms unique to female meiosis using C. elegans since 1994

Learn more:

Inward transport of organelles drives outward migration of the spindle during C. elegans meiosis

Katanin, kinesin-13, and ataxin-2 inhibit premature interaction between maternal and paternal genomes in C. elegans zygotes

Autosomal Trisomy and Triploidy Are Corrected During Female Meiosis in Caenorhabditis elegans

McNally Lab Website

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

University of Connecticut

Announces the

Master’s Thesis Defense

Sabrina Daigle
BS University of Connecticut

Optimizing Lyophilization and its Impact on Bacteriophage Morphology for Enhanced Stability and Long-Term Storage in Therapeutic Applications

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

2:00 PM

TLS 263

Major Advisor: Dr. Carolyn M. Teschke

Associate Advisor: Dr. Robin H. Bogner

Associate Advisor: Dr. Daniel Gage

View thesis

This week in Cell and Developmental Biology Journal Club, Chen-Hsiang Hsu will lead a discussion of “Clonal dynamics in early human embryogenesis inferred from somatic mutation” by Park et al., 2021.

Michael Griffith
Heaslip Lab

TgBipA is an essential GTPase for the parasite Toxoplasma gondii

Alan Kuo
Giardina Lab

Comparison of Anti-Folate Enantiomers in Treatment of Acute Leukemia

Dr. Anna Green
Assistant Professor
Manning College of Information & Computer Sciences
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Host: Peter Gogarten

Genomics and evolution of antibiotic resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The evolution of antibiotic resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, presents a pressing global health challenge. In this talk in will discuss my group’s work on computational methods that integrate whole genome sequences, protein structure, and evolutionary information to improve our ability to diagnose resistant strains from sequencing data, as well as predict which new variants may give rise to antibiotic resistance

About Dr. Green: Anna G. Green is an Assistant Professor in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she directs the Sequence Analysis and Genomics (SAGE) lab. She holds a BS in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Connecticut, and a PhD in Systems Biology from Harvard University, where she studied computational methods for protein structure and interaction prediction. She did her postdoctoral research on genomics of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis at the Harvard Medical School Department of Biomedical Informatics.

Link to publication

Green website

Join us for Fun! Networking! and Dairy Bar Ice Cream!

In the event of rain, we will meet inside ESB 121

Ice cream tickets are available at the event.

This week in Cell and Developmental Biology Journal Club, Chen-Hsiang Hsu will lead a discussion of “Clonal dynamics in early human embryogenesis inferred from somatic mutation” by Park et al., 2021.

Katherine Fleck
Erceg Lab

Novel gene evolution and 3D chromatin organization

Camille Pearce
Heaslip Lab

A Novel Golgin-like Protein is Required for Golgi Structure and Function in Toxoplasma gondii

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

University of Connecticut

Announces the

Oral Dissertation Defense for the Doctoral Degree

Sophia Gosselin

B.S. University of Connecticut

Reconstructing Evolutionary Histories: Genome Phylogenies, Syntenic Blocks, and Viral Selfish Genetic Elements

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

1:30 PM

ESB 121
Webex: https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/meet/spg11004

Major Advisor: Dr. J. Peter Gogarten
Associate Advisor: Dr. Joerg Graf
Associate Advisor: Dr. Jonathan Klassen
Examiner: Dr. Carol Teschke
Examiner: Dr. Paul Lewis
Examiner: Dr. Dan Gage

25_03_17_SPG_Dissertation_draft.pdf

3:30 Erica Lavoie, MCB Major, Advisors: Dr. Stephen Crocker and Dr. Michael Lynes
The Epigenetic Regulator, Dot1L, Contributes to Neuropathology in Globoid Cell Leukodystrophy

3:50 Grace Galarneau, MCB Major, Advisors: Dr. Yaowu Yuan and Dr. Jonathan Klassen
Investigating the Role of B-box Proteins in STRIPY-Mediated Anthocyanin Pigmentation in Mimulus

4:10 Anika Burli, MCB Major, Advisor: Dr. Joanne Conover
Characterizing Astrocytes in the SVZ, RMS, and OB using Eph/Ephrin Expression

4:30 Bianca Planeta, MCB & Anthropology Major, Advisor: Dr. Barbara Mellone
Investigating the role of ORF1 in the transposition of the centromere-enriched retroelement G2/Jockey-3

4:50 Cassandra Correa, MCB Major, Advisor: Dr. Michael Lynes
Characterization of Metallothioneins in Multidrug-Resistant Clinical Isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

5:10 Sean Emmet Creamer, MCB Major, Advisor: Dr. David Daggett and Dr. Beiyan Zhou
Obesity induced B Cell proliferation

5:30 Alexandra Carabetta, MCB & Diagnostic Genetic Sciences Major, Advisor: Dr. Lisa Nigro
Go With Your Gut: The Gut and Fecal Microbiomes of the Eastern Oyster
(Crassostrea virginica) 

MCB Diversity, Equity & Inclusion meeting onWednesday, April 16^th at 11 am in my Webex room:https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/meet/smh15104. This is an open meeting so if anyone would like to join us, please do!

Thank you –

Sarah/Dr. Hird and Juliet/Dr. Lee

This week in Cell and Developmental Biology Journal Club, Anna Moriarty will lead a discussion of “Dimethomorph induces heart and vascular developmental defects by disrupting thyroid hormone in zebrafish embryos” by Wei et al., 2025.

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

University of Connecticut

Announces the

Oral Dissertation Defense for the Doctoral Degree

Bryce Chabot

B.S. University of New Haven

Investigating the conservation and RNA localization of the centromere-enriched retroelement Jockey-3 in Drosophila

Thursday, April 17, 2025

1:15 PM

ESB 121

Major Advisor: Dr. Barbara Mellone

Associate Advisor: Dr. Leighton Core

Associate Advisor: Dr. Rachel O’Neill

Examiner: Dr. Kenneth Campellone

Examiner: Dr. Jianjun Sun

UCONN_Dissertation_Bryce_Chabot.pdf

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

University of Connecticut

Announces the

Oral Dissertation Defense for the Doctoral Degree

Kathleen Kyle

B.S. Florida State University

Multidimensional, Multi-omic Characterization of Microbial Interactions in the Fungus-growing Ant Symbiosis

Friday, April 18, 2025

9:00 AM

TLS 111

Webex: https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/uconn-cmr/j.php?MTID=m8a450ee7ed37b086e6e16a700197a6ec

Major Advisor: Dr. Jonathan Klassen

Associate Advisor: Dr. Marcy Balunas

Associate Advisor: Dr. Spencer Nyholm

Examiner: Dr. Sarah Hird

Examiner: Dr. Peter Gogarten

Dissertation

12:20 Victoria Yi, MCB Major, Advisor: Dr. Aoife Heaslip
Myosin L is Important for Survival in Toxoplasma gondii

1:00 Emmanuel Hernandez, MCB & PNB Major, Advisor: Dr. Jonathan Klassen
Effects of Nitrogen Supplementation on Fungus-Growing Ant Colonies

1:20 Ryan Frier, MCB & Statistics Major, Advisor: Dr. Ken Campellone
Actin nucleation factors maintain genomic integrity and ​promote mitotic fidelity

1:40 Juliana Febrizio, MCB Major, Advisor: Dr. Juliet Lee
Exploring the Role of Myosin II During the Wound Healing Response of Zebrafish Epithelial Sheets

2:00 Jolie Atwood, MCB & Pathobiology Major, Advisor: Dr. Kat Milligan-McClellan
Characterizing motility of a Pseudomonas sp. isolated from the threespine stickleback gut

2:20 Nicholas Danese, MCB Major, Advisor: Dr. Charlie Giardina
Characterization of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts and Their Role in Colorectal Cancer

Dr. Jessica Henty-Ridilla
Associate Professor/Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
SUNY Upstate Medical University Camillus
Host: Ken Campellone

TDP-43 directly regulates actin and microtubule dynamics

Actin and microtubule dynamics regulate essential cell processes and are misregulated in disease. Neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), are characterized by a progressive loss of neurons. While many of the individual factors that regulate and maintain these cells are known, the collaboration or failure of these molecules in disease remains unclear.TDP-43 is a hallmark of almost all forms of neurodegeneration and can exist in various forms, including soluble molecules, biomolecular condensates, and pathological fibrils. In disease, these condensates and fibrils accumulate in the cytoplasm and disrupt essential cell processes regulated by the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons, leading to pathological symptoms. Here we explore the new and direct contribution of TDP-43 in directly regulating actin and microtubule assembly, and their coordination. We use multi-wavelength TIRF microscopy to examine the direct effects of purified TDP-43 (normal and ALS-mutants), actin, and microtubules on assembly. In cells, we use pharmacological agents and FRAP-based analyses to explore the contribution of TDP-43 to cytoplasmic actin and microtubule dynamics and whether the cytoskeleton influences TDP-43 condensates in the cytoplasm. This approach allows us to quantify pre- and post-disease state changes from the same cell, mimicking the onset of some neurodegenerative disorders, particularly ALS. Identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying these intricate biological systems will contribute significantly to the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative conditions.

About Dr. Henty-Ridilla

Dr. Henty-Ridilla is currently an Associate Professor at SUNY Upstate Medical University (Syracuse, NY). She holds appointments in the departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Neuroscience and Physiology. Her laboratory uses advanced single-molecule microscopy (TIRF, STORM, SoRa) to perform “biochemistry on a coverslip” to study how actin and microtubule proteins are regulated in normal and neurodegenerative disease states. Her research program focuses on the role of TDP-43, profilin (and its disease variants), actin, and microtubules in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Research in the lab is funded with grants from NIH, the ALS Association, and a Sinsheimer Scholar Award

Henty- Ridilla Lab

Jillian Lewis
Nyholm Lab

Keyang Tang
Core Lab