Staff profile

I completed my BSc at Durham University in 2024 and am now undertaking an MSc by research where I am studying how myosin-independent contractility functions during cell division. Non-muscular myosin II (NMY2) is the main driver of actomyosin ring constriction during cytokinesis. However, upon NMY2 inactivation, the ring structure is still able to partially constrict, suggesting that other proteins within the actomyosin ring are involved in generating contractile forces. I am using fast-acting temperature-sensitive NMY2 Caenorhabditis elegans mutants to inactivate NMY2 at specific timepoints during cytokinesis, and knockdown experiments using siRNA to determine the requirement of various crosslinking proteins for actomyosin ring constriction in the single-celled C. elegans embryo. I am using live imaging to observe the effects of NMY2 inactivation in real time. It is important to build a greater understanding of this field as cytokinesis failure is implicated in various developmental defects, neurological disorders and in tumorigenesis.