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Home - Science - Scientist Directory - Rankin, Susannah

Susannah Rankin, Ph.D.

Associate Member
Cell Cycle & Cancer Biology Research Program

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My 101

In my lab, we study the manner in which cells control the key events of cell division. When cells divide, either in order to develop new tissues or to replace aging or defective cells, a precise and highly complex series of cellular events must be carefully coordinated. This coordination ensures that newly forming cells inherit the appropriate components and thus are able to function properly. In the course of experiments developed to better understand the control of cell division, we have identified a novel gene that is necessary to ensure accurate chromosome segregation to newly forming cells. Because the chromosomes carry essentially all genetic information within a cell, their accurate segregation during cell division is critical. In addition, errors in chromosome segregation are known to play an important role in the development of tumors, making a better understanding of this process a very worthy endeavor. Our lab uses several approaches to understand further the regulation of chromosome segregation. These include biochemical analyses using extracts from eggs of the frog Xenopus laevis and time-lapse image analysis of cultured cells.

Research

Work in the Rankin lab is focused on understanding the chromosome cohesion apparatus, how it is regulated during cell division, and how aberrant cohesion contributes to disease. Although the essential mechanisms of cohesion are conserved throughout eukaryotic phylogeny, we are particularly interested in the metazoan elaborations of this system. Aberrant cohesion causes developmental defects and is associated with tumor progression.

The cohesin complex was discovered and initially characterized based on its role in tethering newly replicated copies of chromosomes together from the time they are made until cell division.  This cohesion ensures accurate chromosome alignment and segregation in mitosis. Sister chromatid cohesion also supports DNA repair mechanisms that rely on homologous recombination.

In higher eukaryotes, cohesin also plays a critical role promoting normal chromosome structure.  Cohesin ensures that chromosomes are packaged into loops and domains. This folding both compacts chromosomes and serves to define the transcriptional landscape. Cohesin in this role is thus a critical epigenetic regulator. Cohesinopathies, developmental disorders in individuals with compromised cohesin loading or function, are thought to reflect abnormal gene expression due to changes in chromosome structure.

My interest in cohesin regulation began a number of years ago with my discovery of the essential cohesin regulator Sororin. This activity is not present in fungal systems, which were the basis for our understanding of cohesin regulation at the time. We continue to work on Sororin, and have expanded the scope of study to include other cohesin regulators that are unique to or different in metazoans. We are particularly interested in how chromosome structure can be modulated to respond to DNA damage, to accommodate new transcriptional demands during development, and to promote orderly gene rearrangements in specific cells and tissues.

Brief CV

Education
B.A., Reed College, Portland, OR, 1985
Ph.D., Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 1995

Honors and Awards
1993-1994 Mortimer Sackler Scholar, Tufts University
1995-1998 Post-doctoral Fellow, Jane Coffin Childs Fund for Biomedical Research
1998-2000 Post-doctoral Fellow, Charles A. King Trust Medical Foundation
2008 Pew Foundation Scholar in Biomedical Research
2020 Fred Jones Award for Scientific Achievement

Joined OMRF Scientific Staff in 2006.

Publications

View more publications

Recent Publications

Bender D, Da Silva EML, Chen J, Poss A, Gawey L, Rulon Z, Rankin S. Multivalent interaction of ESCO2 with the replication machinery is required for sister chromatid cohesion in vertebrates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2019 December, PMID: 31879348, PMCID: PMC6969535

Rankin S. Reconstituting Nuclear and Chromosome Dynamics Using Xenopus Extracts. Cold Spring Harb Protoc 2019:pdb.top097105, 2019 March, PMID: 30150319, PMCID: PMC6571022

da Silva EML, Rankin S. Chromosome Cohesion and Condensation in Xenopus Egg Extracts. Cold Spring Harb Protoc 2019:pdb.prot097121, 2019 February, PMID: 29475994, PMCID: PMC6571020

Selected Publications

Sivakumar S, Daum JR, Tipton AR, Rankin S, Gorbsky GJ. The Spindle and kinetochore-associated (Ska) complex enhances binding of the Anaphase-Promoting Complex/Cyclosome (APC/C) to chromosomes and promotes mitotic exit. Mol Biol Cell 25:594-605, 2014. PMID: 24403607 PMCID: PMC3937086

Ouyang Z, Zheng G, Song J, Borek DM, Otwinowski Z, Brautigam CA, Tomchick DR, Rankin S, Yu H. Structure of the human cohesin inhibitor Wapl. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110:11355-11360, 2013. PMID: 23776203 PMCID: PMC3710786

Daum JR, Potapova TA, Sivakumar S, Daniel JJ, Flynn JN, Rankin S, Gorbsky GJ. Cohesion fatigue induces chromatid separation in cells delayed at metaphase. Curr Biol 21:1018-1024, 2011. PMID: 21658943 PMCID: PMC3119564

Wu FM, Nguyen JV, Rankin S. A conserved motif at the C terminus of sororin is required for sister chromatid cohesion. J Biol Chem 286:3579-3586, 2011. PMID: 21115494 PMCID: PMC3030362

Lafont AL, Song J, Rankin S. Sororin cooperates with the acetyltransferase Eco2 to ensure DNA replication-dependent sister chromatid cohesion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107:20364-20369, 2010.  PMID: 21059905 PMCID: PMC2996691

Rankin S, Ayad NG, Kirschner MW. Sororin, a substrate of the anaphase-promoting complex, is required for sister chromatid cohesion in vertebrates. Mol Cell 18:185-200, 2005. PMID: 15837422

 

Contact

Cell Cycle and Cancer Biology Research Program, MS 48
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
825 N.E. 13th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Phone: (405) 271-8190
Fax: (405) 271-7312
E-mail: Susannah-Rankin@omrf.org

 

Lab Staff

Allison Jevitt, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

Jingrong Chen
Senior Research Assistant

Gene Chao
Network & Computer Systems Administrator

Annelise Poss
Research Technician

Ashley Gin
Laboratory Technician

Allana Caldwell
Laboratory Technician

Dawn Bender
Graduate Student

Gerry McElroy
Laboratory Assistant

News from the Rankin lab

Dr. Rankin in the Media

News from the Rankin lab

OMRF honors scientists, board member
April 21, 2020

OMRF doled out awards at its annual spring board meeting on Tuesday.

OMRF receives $1.47 million grant to study cell division
February 25, 2019

OMRF scientist Susannah Rankin received a four-year, $1.47 million award to study chromosomes.

Discovery could explain cell division errors in cancer
April 18, 2018

New findings provide a better understanding of how cells replicate, and it could help outline how and why this process goes wrong in cancer.

OMRF researchers discover role of proteins in chromosome packaging
October 16, 2017

OMRF researcher Susannah Rankin has new information on how chromosomes organize themselves in cells.

Slimy, squirmy creatures: the unsung heroes of medical research
December 15, 2016

Fish, frogs and worms have become key players in the fight against disease.

When cell division goes wrong
June 26, 2014

Get the sequence wrong and cell division can turn to disaster.

DNA packaging research earns $1.5 million grant
June 13, 2013

Problems in chromosome cohesion can have far-reaching effects.

DNA packaging impacts cell division, OMRF researcher says
October 24, 2012

How DNA is packed into cells can have major implications.

OMRF scientist is a “molecular mechanic”
December 27, 2010

Researcher looking for triggers that can lead to birth defects, diseases

OMRF scientists make new insights into cell division
November 8, 2010

Proper cell division is important, but there are many ways for it to go awry.

OMRF cell biologist honored as Oklahoma’s first Pew Scholar
June 16, 2008

OMRF scientist Susannah Rankin, Ph.D., has been named the state’s first ever Pew Scholar. After a nationwide competition, Rankin, a cell biologist at OMRF, was named Thursday as 1 of 20 2008 Pew Scholars in Biomedical Research by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the University of California at San Francisco. The honor includes a $240,000 […]

Four new scientists boost OMRF’s research programs
March 23, 2006

Four scientists from some of the nation’s leading research institutions have joined the faculty of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. The new researchers bring additional strength to OMRF’s research in cancer, genetic disorders and immunology. Susannah Rankin, Ph.D., and Dean Dawson, Ph.D., come to OMRF from Boston, where Rankin studied cell division in the Systems […]

Dr. Rankin in the Media

Grant to study cell division
MuskogeePhoenix.com

OMRF receives $1 million cell division grant
KFOR.com

Briefcase: OMRF gets cell division grant
NewsOk.com

OMRF receives $1.47 million for cell division research
JournalRecord.com

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