Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
M.D., Ph.D., University of California at San Francisco

Cell polarization, cell division and cytoskeleton dynamics in fission yeast

The Chang lab studies how cells divide and grow and aims to contribute to our understanding of how cells are assembled.

How do cells determine where they should divide, and where should they polarize? How do cells determine their shape?

Many of our studies deal with how microtubules and actin are organized in the cell and how they move key proteins or organelles to specific locations in the cell to regulate cell polarity and cytokinesis.

To address these questions, we use a simple eukaryotic model organism, the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Please see our lab website for more information.

---

1. Minc, N., Burgess, D. and Chang, F. (2011) Influence of Cell Geometry on Division-Plane Positioning. Cell 144: 414-426. (A Cell Research Highlight)
2. Al-Bassam, J., Kim, H., Brouhard, G., van Oijen, A., Harrison, S.C. and Chang, F. (2010) CLASP promotes microtubule rescue by recruiting tubulin dimers to the microtubule. Developmental Cell 19: 245-258.
3. Bathe, M. and Chang, F. (2010) Cytokinesis and the contractile ring in fission yeast: towards a systems-level understanding. Trends in Microbiology 18: 38-45.
4. Minc, N., Boudaoud, A. and Chang, F. (2009) Mechanical forces of fission yeast growth. Curr. Biol. 19: 1096-1101.
5. Minc, N., Bratman, S.V., Basu, R. and Chang, F. (2009) Establishing new sites of polarization by microtubules. Curr. Biol. 19: 83-94.
6. Yonetani, A., Lustig, R., Moseley, J.B., Goode, B.L. and Chang, F. (2008) Regulation and targeting of the fission yeast formin cdc12p in cytokinesis. Mol. Biol. Cell. 12: 2208-2219.
7. Bratman, S. and Chang, F. (2008) Mechanisms for maintaining microtubule bundles. Trends Cell. Bio. 18: 580-85.
8. Bratman, S and Chang, F. (2007) The stabilization of overlapping microtubules by fission yeast CLASP. Dev. Cell. 13: 812-827.
9. Martin, S. and Chang, F. (2007) Regulation of the formin for3p by cdc42p and bud6p. Mol. Biol. Cell. 18: 4155-4167.
10. Basu, R., and Chang, F. (2007) Shaping the actin cytoskeleton using microtubule tips. Curr. Op. Cell. Biol. 19: 1-7.
11. Padte, N.N., Martin, S.G., Howard, M. and Chang, F. (2006) The cell-end factor pom1p inhibits mid1p in specification of the cell division plane in fission yeast. Curr. Biol. 16: 2480-2487.
12. Daga, R., Lee, K.G., Bratman, S., Salas-Pino, S. and Chang, F. (2006) Self-organization of microtubule bundles in anucleate fission yeast cells. Nat. Cell. Biol. 8: 1108-1113.
13. Daga, R., Yonetani, A. and Chang, F. (2006) Asymmetric microtubule pushing forces in nuclear centering. Curr. Biol. 16: 1544-1550.
14. Magidson, V., Chang, F.*, and Khodjakov, A.* (2006) Regulation of cytokinesis by spindle pole bodies. Nat. Cell Biol. 8:891-893.
    (*co-senior/ corresponding authors)
15. Martin, S.G. and Chang, F. (2006) Dynamics of the formin for3p in actin cable assembly. Curr. Biol. 16: 1161-1170.
16. Takeda, T. and Chang, F. (2005) Role of fission yeast myosin I in organization of sterol-rich membrane domains. Curr. Biol. 15: 1331-1336.
17. Daga, R. and Chang, F. (2005) Dynamics of positioning the fission yeast cell division plane. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102: 8228-8232.
18. Zimmerman, S. and Chang, F. (2005) Effects of gamma-tubulin complex proteins on microtubule nucleation and catastrophe in fission yeast. Mol. Biol. Cell. 16: 2719-2733.
19. Martin, S.G., McDonald, W.H., Yates, J.R. and Chang, F. (2005) Tea4p links microtubule plus ends with the formin for3p in the establishment of cell polarity. Dev. Cell. 8: 479-491.