What drives the drastic changes underlying cell division?

MCF10A cells undergoing cell division. Chromosomes are labeled in magenta (Histone H2B), a component of the replication fork is labeled in green (PCNA).

Every day billions of cells divide in our bodies. Failures during cell division can lead to the loss or gain of genomic information and result in cell death or disease development, such as cancer. We are using a combination of biochemistry, quantitative cell biology and computational modeling to unravel the complex molecular mechanisms underlying cell division and ensuring error-free cell proliferation.