BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Reaction diffusion and collective behavior in the self-organisatio
 n of the mitotic spindle - Professor Eric Karsenti (EMBL\, Heidelberg)
DTSTART:20061117T120000Z
DTEND:20061117T125000Z
UID:TALK5261@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Duncan Simpson
DESCRIPTION:Self-organisation processes lead to the generation of dynamic 
 patterns that often acquire new properties impossible to predict in a line
 ar way from the individual characteristics of the parts. Moreover such pro
 cesses occur at various scales\, from the atomic/ molecular level to socie
 ties and even stellar systems. I have been trying to understand how the mi
 totic spindle of animal cells\, which is involved in the segregation of ch
 romosomes during mitosis\, becomes organised in a perfect bipolar structur
 e. In one given cell type\, the spindle has an amasingly reproducible shap
 e and size. Yet its components turn-over in a few minutes at the expense o
 f a large amount of chemical energy dissipation. So\, the structure is a s
 teady-state dissipative structure. The challenge was to identify the natur
 e of the principles underlying specifically the self-organisation of the t
 ubes that constitute the spindle\, the microtubules\, into an antiparallel
 \, bipolar array\, centered on the chromosomes. We have shown that this ha
 ppens through the formation of a gradient of regulatory molecules around t
 he chromosomes\, that provides spatial cues for the collective behavior of
  microtubules and molecular motors that eventually self-organize into a st
 eady-state bipolar anti-parallel array.\n
LOCATION:Kaetsu Centre\, New Hall
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR