Outputs (16)

KIF2C condensation concentrates PLK1 and phosphorylated BRCA2 on kinetochore microtubules in mitosis (2025)
Journal Article
Skobelkina, A., Julien, M., Jeannin, S., Miron, S., Egger, T., Chaaban, R., Bouvignies, G., Alghoul, E., Ghouil, R., Friel, C., Busso, D., Cañas, J., Theillet, F.-X., Le Bars, R., Carreira, A., Constantinou, A., Basbous, J., & Zinn-Justin, S. (2025). KIF2C condensation concentrates PLK1 and phosphorylated BRCA2 on kinetochore microtubules in mitosis. Nucleic Acids Research, 53(11), Article gkaf476. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf476

During mitosis, the microtubule depolymerase KIF2C, the tumor suppressor BRCA2, and the kinase PLK1 contribute to the control of kinetochore-microtubule attachments. Both KIF2C and BRCA2 are phosphorylated by PLK1, and BRCA2 phosphorylated at T207 (B... Read More about KIF2C condensation concentrates PLK1 and phosphorylated BRCA2 on kinetochore microtubules in mitosis.

Living cells as a biological analog of optical tweezers – a non-invasive microrheology approach (2023)
Journal Article
Hardiman, W., Clark, M., Friel, C., Huett, A., Pérez-Cota, F., Setchfield, K., Wright, A. J., & Tassieri, M. (2023). Living cells as a biological analog of optical tweezers – a non-invasive microrheology approach. Acta Biomaterialia, 166, 317-325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2023.04.039

Microrheology, the study of fluids on micron length-scales, promises to reveal insights into cellular biology, including mechanical biomarkers of disease and the interplay between biomechanics and cellular function. Here a minimally-invasive passive... Read More about Living cells as a biological analog of optical tweezers – a non-invasive microrheology approach.

A synthetic ancestral kinesin-13 depolymerizes microtubules faster than any natural depolymerizing kinesin (2022)
Journal Article
Belsham, H. R., Alghamdi, H. M., Dave, N., Rathbone, A. J., Wickstead, B., & Friel, C. T. (2022). A synthetic ancestral kinesin-13 depolymerizes microtubules faster than any natural depolymerizing kinesin. Open Biology, 12(8), Article 220133. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsob.220133

The activity of a kinesin is largely determined by the approximately 350 residue motor domain, and this region alone is sufficient to classify a kinesin as a member of a particular family. The kinesin-13 family are a group of microtubule depolymerizi... Read More about A synthetic ancestral kinesin-13 depolymerizes microtubules faster than any natural depolymerizing kinesin.

Picosecond ultrasonics for elasticity-based imaging and characterization of biological cells (2020)
Journal Article
Pérez-Cota, F., Fuentes-Domínguez, R., La Cavera III, S., Hardiman, W., Yao, M., Setchfield, K., Moradi, E., Naznin, S., Wright, A., Webb, K. F., Huett, A., Friel, C., Sottile, V., Elsheikha, H. M., Smith, R. J., & Clark, M. (2020). Picosecond ultrasonics for elasticity-based imaging and characterization of biological cells. Journal of Applied Physics, 128(16), Article 160902. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0023744

© 2020 Author(s). Characterization of the elasticity of biological cells is growing as a new way to gain insight into cell biology. Cell mechanics are related to most aspects of cellular behavior, and applications in research and medicine are broad.... Read More about Picosecond ultrasonics for elasticity-based imaging and characterization of biological cells.

Efa6 protects axons and regulates their growth and branching by inhibiting microtubule polymerisation at the cortex (2019)
Journal Article
Qu, Y., Hahn, I., Lees, M., Parkin, J., Voelzmann, A., Dorey, K., Rathbone, A., Friel, C. T., Allan, V. J., Okenve-Ramos, P., Sanchez-Soriano, N., & Prokop, A. (2019). Efa6 protects axons and regulates their growth and branching by inhibiting microtubule polymerisation at the cortex. eLife, 8, Article e50319. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.50319

© 2019, Qu et al. Cortical collapse factors affect microtubule (MT) dynamics at the plasma membrane. They play important roles in neurons, as suggested by inhibition of axon growth and regeneration through the ARF activator Efa6 in C. elegans, and by... Read More about Efa6 protects axons and regulates their growth and branching by inhibiting microtubule polymerisation at the cortex.

Author response: Efa6 protects axons and regulates their growth and branching by inhibiting microtubule polymerisation at the cortex (2019)
Other
Qu, Y., Hahn, I., Lees, M., Parkin, J., Voelzmann, A., Dorey, K., Rathbone, A., Friel, C. T., Allan, V. J., Okenve-Ramos, P., Sanchez-Soriano, N., & Prokop, A. (2019). Author response: Efa6 protects axons and regulates their growth and branching by inhibiting microtubule polymerisation at the cortex

Identification of key residues that regulate the interaction of kinesins with microtubule ends (2019)
Journal Article
Belsham, H. R., & Friel, C. T. (2019). Identification of key residues that regulate the interaction of kinesins with microtubule ends. Cytoskeleton, 76(7-8), 440-446. https://doi.org/10.1002/cm.21568

Kinesins are molecular motors that use energy derived from ATP turnover to walk along microtubules, or when at the microtubule end, regulate growth or shrinkage. All kinesins that regulate microtubule dynamics have long residence times at microtubule... Read More about Identification of key residues that regulate the interaction of kinesins with microtubule ends.

Parts list for a microtubule depolymerising kinesin (2018)
Journal Article
Friel, C. T., & Welburn, J. P. (2018). Parts list for a microtubule depolymerising kinesin. Biochemical Society Transactions, 46(6), 1665-1672. https://doi.org/10.1042/bst20180350

The Kinesin superfamily is a large group of molecular motors that use the turnover of ATP to regulate their interaction with the microtubule cytoskeleton. The coupled relationship between nucleotide turnover and microtubule binding is harnessed in va... Read More about Parts list for a microtubule depolymerising kinesin.

Not just a pretty cargo carrier: The other face of kinesins (2018)
Journal Article
Friel, C. (2018). Not just a pretty cargo carrier: The other face of kinesins. Biochemist, 40(2), 22-25. https://doi.org/10.1042/bio04002022

© 2018 Biochemical Society. If you've only ever heard of one kinesin, it's likely to be one that walks along microtubules and carries cargo around in the cell. However, this type of kinesin is only part of the kinesin story. The 'kinesin superfamily'... Read More about Not just a pretty cargo carrier: The other face of kinesins.

A Cdk1 phosphomimic mutant of MCAK impairs microtubule end recognition (2017)
Journal Article
Belsham, H. R., & Friel, C. T. (2017). A Cdk1 phosphomimic mutant of MCAK impairs microtubule end recognition. PeerJ, 5, Article e4034. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4034

The microtubule depolymerising kinesin-13, MCAK, is phosphorylated at residue T537 by Cdk1. This is the only known phosphorylation site within MCAK’s motor domain. To understand the impact of phosphorylation by Cdk1 on microtubule depolymerisation ac... Read More about A Cdk1 phosphomimic mutant of MCAK impairs microtubule end recognition.