Prof. Dr. Trisha N. Davis

Profile

Academic positionFull Professor
Research fieldsBiochemistry,General Genetics, Functional Genome Research
KeywordsMitosis, chromosome, centrosome, kinetochore, genome stability

Current contact address

CountryUnited States of America
CitySeattle
InstitutionUniversity of Washington
InstituteDepartment of Biochemistry

Host during sponsorship

Prof. Dr. Anthony A. HymanMax-Planck-Institut für molekulare Zellbiologie und Genetik, Dresden
Prof. Dr. Jonathon HowardMax-Planck-Institut für molekulare Zellbiologie und Genetik, Dresden
Prof. Dr. Petra SchwilleBiotechnologisches Zentrum, Institut für Biophysik, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden
Start of initial sponsorship01/09/2008

Programme(s)

2008Humboldt Research Award Programme

Nominator's project description

Professor Davis is an international authority on mitosis, the process by which the duplicated chromosomes are segregated to the two daughter cells during cell division. She discovered that the calcium-binding protein calmodulin is essential for mitosis but does not need to bind calcium to perform its essential functions. More recently she is reconstituting the kinetochore and centrosome to understand how they drive assembly of the mitotic spindle. She also heads a multidisciplinary research group that develops new technologies to study protein organization. In Germany she plans to study the organization of the mitotic spindle in mammalian cells.