Cell Cycle & Cancer Biology Research Program

The Cell Cycle & Cancer Biology Research Program focuses on basic biological processes that control cell growth and cell division. Researchers within this program use cutting-edge technologies in molecular biology, genetics, and advanced microscopy to investigate the factors that regulate genome stability in experimental systems such as budding yeast, Xenopus laevis, mouse,  zebrafish, and cultured mammalian cells.

The contributions made by members of CCCB in illuminating the normal pathways of cell division and the malfunctions that lead to chromosome abnormalities have important implications for human diseases including birth defects and cancer.

The members of CCCB place strong emphasis on research training of students and postdoctoral fellows.

2025

Narozna M, Latham MC, Gorbsky GJ. Origin of chromosome 12 trisomy surge in human induced pluripotent stem cells. J Cell Biol 224, 2025 November, PMID: 40801878

Castell SD, Fernandez CM, Tumas IN, Margara LM, Miserendino MC, Ceschin DG, Pezza RJ, Monti MR. The low-fidelity DNA Pol IV accelerates evolution of pathogenicity genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Commun Biol 8:1148, 2025 August, PMID: 40753298, PMCID: PMC12318082

Noble TD, Sansam CG, Wittig KA, Majchrzycka B, Sansam CL. Cell cycle-dependent TICRR/TRESLIN and MTBP chromatin binding mechanisms and patterns. Genome Biol 26:194, 2025 July, PMID: 40624716, PMCID: PMC12235874

Sansam CG, Masser EA, Goins D, Sansam CL. Due-B Is dispensable for early development and genome duplication in vertebrates. bioRxiv, 2025 June, PMID: 40667299, PMCID: PMC12262730

Hossain MS, Sansam CG, Wittig KA, Noble TD, Boyd KA, Sansam CL. Dynamic regulation of origin firing factors links CDK activity to dormant origin activation. bioRxiv, 2025 June, PMID: 40661636, PMCID: PMC12259077

Pasionek I, Machowska A, Ridenour JB, Donczew M, Donczew R. The extra-terminal domain drives the role of BET proteins in transcription. bioRxiv, 2025 May, PMID: 40463266, PMCID: PMC12132590

Mahendrawada L, Warfield L, Donczew R, Hahn S. Low overlap of transcription factor DNA binding and regulatory targets. Nature, 2025 April, PMID: 40240607

2024

Narozna M, Latham MC, Gorbsky GJ. Origin of Chromosome 12 Trisomy Surge in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs). bioRxiv, 2024 December, PMID: 39677655, PMCID: PMC11642788

Park J, Kirkland JG. The role of the Polybromo-associated BAF complex in development. Biochem Cell Biol, 2024 November, PMID: 39541575, PMCID: PMC11752563

Bergwell M, Park J, Kirkland JG. Differential modulation of polycomb-associated histone marks by cBAF, pBAF, and gBAF complexes. Life Sci Alliance 7, 2024 August, PMID: 39209535, PMCID: PMC11361369

Mian Y, Wang L, Keikhosravi A, Guo K, Misteli T, Arda HE, Finn EH. Cell type- and transcription-independent spatial proximity between enhancers and promoters. Mol Biol Cell:mbcE24020082, 2024 May, PMID: 38717453, PMCID: PMC11244156

Evatt JM, Sadli AD, Rapacz BK, Chuong HH, Meyer RE, Ridenour JB, Donczew R, Dawson DS. Centromere pairing enables correct segregation of meiotic chromosomes. Curr Biol, 2024 April, PMID: 38670094, PMCID: PMC11111343

Rankin BD, Rankin S. The MCM2-7 Complex: Roles beyond DNA Unwinding. Biology (Basel) 13, 2024 April, PMID: 38666870, PMCID: PMC11048021

Noble TD, Sansam CG, Wittig KA, Majchrzycka B, Sansam CL. Cell Cycle-Dependent TICRR/TRESLIN and MTBP Chromatin Binding Mechanisms and Patterns. bioRxiv, 2024 February, PMID: 38370757, PMCID: PMC10871258

Carbajal A, Gryniuk I, de Castro RO, Pezza RJ. Efficient Enrichment of Synchronized Mouse Spermatocytes Suitable for Genome-Wide Analysis. Methods Mol Biol 2818:65-80, 2024 January, PMID: 39126467

de Almeida LP, Lee CY, Carbajal A, de Castro RO, Pezza RJ. Visualization and Quantification of Rapid Chromosome Movements at Early Stages of Mouse Meiosis. Methods Mol Biol 2818:171-177, 2024 January, PMID: 39126474, PMCID: PMC12207911

Chuong HH, Evatt JM, Dawson DS. Dynamic Live Cell Imaging of Budding Yeast Meiosis. Methods Mol Biol 2818:161-169, 2024 January, PMID: 39126473

2023

Schoen JR, Chen J, Rankin S. The intrinsically disordered tail of ESCO1 binds DNA in a charge-dependent manner. bioRxiv, 2023 December, PMID: 38106185, PMCID: PMC10723360

Chen J, Floyd EN, Dawson DS, Rankin S. Cornelia de Lange Syndrome mutations in SMC1A cause cohesion defects in yeast. Genetics 225, 2023 October, PMID: 37650609, PMCID: PMC10550314

Roe MM, Do T, Turner S, Jevitt AM, Chlebicz M, White K, Oomens AGP, Rankin S, Kovats S, Gappa-Fahlenkamp H. Blood myeloid cells differentiate to lung resident cells and respond to pathogen stimuli in a 3D human tissue-engineered lung model. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 11:1212230, 2023 July, PMID: 37485324, PMCID: PMC10361305

Dawson DB, Lewis V, Fletcher TL, Scofield RH. Perspective: Developing Future Veterans Affairs Scientists Through a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program. Health Equity 7:342-345, 2023 May, PMID: 37284528, PMCID: PMC10240330

Meyer RE, Sartin A, Gish M, Harsha J, Wilkie E, Haworth D, LaVictoire R, Alberola I, Chuong HH, Gorbsky GJ, Dawson DS. Polyploid yeast are dependent on elevated levels of Mps1 for successful chromosome segregation. bioRxiv, 2023 January, PMID: 36712123, PMCID: PMC9882063

Jevitt AM, Rankin BD, Chen J, Rankin S. The cohesin modifier ESCO2 is stable during DNA replication. Chromosome Res 31:6, 2023 January, PMID: 36708487, PMCID: PMC9884251

2022

Finn EH, Misteli T. Nuclear position modulates long-range chromatin interactions. PLoS Genet 18:e1010451, 2022 October, PMID: 36206323, PMCID: PMC9581366

de Castro RO, Previato de Almeida L, Carbajal A, Gryniuk I, Pezza RJ. PBAF chromatin remodeler complexes that mediate meiotic transitions in mouse. Development 149, 2022 September, PMID: 36111709, PMCID: PMC9573785

Gorbsky GJ, Daum JR, Sapkota H, Summala K, Yoshida H, Georgescu C, Wren JD, Peshkin L, Horb ME. Developing immortal cell lines from Xenopus embryos, four novel cell lines derived from Xenopus tropicalis. Open Biol 12:220089, 2022 July, PMID: 35857907, PMCID: PMC9256088

DuBose CO, Daum JR, Sansam CL, Gorbsky GJ. Dynamic Features of Chromosomal Instability during Culture of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Genes (Basel) 13, 2022 June, PMID: 35885940, PMCID: PMC9318709

de Castro RO, Carbajal A, Previato de Almeida L, Goitea V, Griffin CT, Pezza RJ. Mouse Chd4-NURD is required for neonatal spermatogonia survival and normal gonad development. Epigenetics Chromatin 15:16, 2022 May, PMID: 35568926, PMCID: PMC9107693

Daum JR, DuBose CO, Sivakumar S, Gorbsky GJ. Live Fluorescence Imaging of Chromosome Segregation in Cultured Cells. Methods Mol Biol 2415:61-86, 2022 January, PMID: 34972946

Warfield L, Donczew R, Mahendrawada L, Hahn S. Yeast Mediator facilitates transcription initiation at most promoters via a Tail-independent mechanism. Mol Cell 82:4033-4048.e7, 2022 Nov, PMID: 36208626, PMCID: PMC9637718

2021

Tipton AR, Gorbsky GJ. More than Two Populations of Microtubules Comprise the Dynamic Mitotic Spindle. J Cell Sci, 2021 December, PMID: 34907446, PMCID: PMC8918802

Laine LJ, Mäki-Jouppila JHE, Kutvonen E, Tiikkainen P, Nyholm TKM, Tien JF, Umbreit NT, Härmä V, Kallio L, Davis TN, Asbury CL, Poso A, Gorbsky GJ, Kallio MJ. VTT-006, an anti-mitotic compound, binds to the Ndc80 complex and suppresses cancer cell growth in vitro. Oncoscience 8:134-153, 2021 December, PMID: 34926718, PMCID: PMC8667816

Sarkar R, Petrushenko ZM, Dawson DS, Rybenkov VV. Ycs4 Subunit of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Condensin Binds DNA and Modulates the Enzyme Turnover. Biochemistry, 2021 November, PMID: 34723504, PMCID: PMC8668321

Wittig KA, Sansam CG, Noble TD, Goins D, Sansam CL. The CRL4DTL E3 ligase induces degradation of the DNA replication initiation factor TICRR/TRESLIN specifically during S phase. Nucleic Acids Res, 2021 September, PMID: 34534348, PMCID: PMC8501952

Moon EJ, Mello SS, Li CG, Chi JT, Thakkar K, Kirkland JG, Lagory EL, Lee IJ, Diep AN, Miao Y, Rafat M, Vilalta M, Castellini L, Krieg AJ, Graves EE, Attardi LD, Giaccia AJ. The HIF target MAFF promotes tumor invasion and metastasis through IL11 and STAT3 signaling. Nat Commun 12:4308, 2021 July, PMID: 34262028, PMCID: PMC8280233

Weber CM, Hafner A, Kirkland JG, Braun SMG, Stanton BZ, Boettiger AN, Crabtree GR. mSWI/SNF promotes Polycomb repression both directly and through genome-wide redistribution. Nat Struct Mol Biol 28:501-511, 2021 June, PMID: 34117481, PMCID: PMC8504423

Meyer RE, Tipton AR, LaVictoire R, Gorbsky GJ, Dawson DS. Mps1 promotes poleward chromosome movements in meiotic prometaphase. Mol Biol Cell:mbcE20080525T, 2021 March, PMID: 33788584, PMCID: PMC8101486

2020

Lee CY, Bisig CG, Conrad MN, Ditamo Y, Previato de Almeida L, Dresser ME, Pezza RJ. Telomere-led meiotic chromosome movements: recent update in structure and function. Nucleus, 2020 May, PMID: 32412326, PMCID: PMC7781623

Sapkota H, Wren JD, Gorbsky GJ. Chondrosarcoma-associated gene 1 (CSAG1) maintains the integrity of the mitotic centrosome in cells with defective p53. J Cell Sci, 2020 April, PMID: 32295846, PMCID: PMC7272337

Lee CY, Bisig CG, Conrad MM, Ditamo Y, Previato de Almeida L, Dresser ME, Pezza RJ. Extranuclear Structural Components that Mediate Dynamic Chromosome Movements in Yeast Meiosis. Curr Biol, 2020 February, PMID: 32059771, PMCID: PMC7181386

Meyer RE, Dawson DS. Better safe than sorry-preventing mitotic segregation of meiotic chromosomes. Genes Dev 34:147-148, 2020 February, PMID: 32015052, PMCID: PMC7000914

Gary J. Gorbsky, Ph.D.
WH and Betty Phelps Chair in Developmental Biology
Chair, Cell Cycle & Cancer Biology
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
825 NE 13th Street, MS 48
Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Phone: (405) 271-8168
Fax: (405) 271-7312
Email: gary-gorbsky@omrf.org