Lauren McCormick

The McCormick lab studies how the cell's microtubule skeleton ('cytoskeleton') adapts to meet the structural and mechanical needs of specialized human cells or cell fragments, like platelets, by altering the types and modifications of microtubule proteins. We seek to understand how these proteins are altered by mutation in disease, or change in response to mechanical stress during discrete life stages such as breastfeeding or pregnancy. We use simulations of microtubule assembly, cell-based work, and biophysical assays with recombinant human tubulin to address our questions. In all, we aim to discover how cells create specialized microtubules to support the myriad processes of human life, and to uncover the mechanistic link between mutations in microtubule proteins and human disease.