Achievement

When a pathologist at a hospital does a tumor biopsy, they look at the shape of the cells' nuclei to determine if the patient has cancer, and how far it has progressed. However, it is still unknown through which mechanisms the cell controls nuclear shape. By combining his cell work with micropatterning lithography, Shyam Khatua has discovered a new actin structure, the actin cap, which acts as a major regulator of nuclear shape. Shyam feels that working in a group with a primary focus in cell biology would not have afforded him the opportunity and available expertise to make this discovery. He hopes to further contribute to the understanding of how a cell controls the shape of its nucleus with his future work. He published a paper entitled: ‘Dysfunctional connections between the nucleus and the actin and microtubule networks in laminopathic models’ Biophys J. 2008 Dec;95(11):5462-75. PMID: 18790843 based on his discovery.