User:Redunol/Alex Mogilner

Alex Mogilner is an American professor and research scientist working for the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior and Department of Mathematics at the University of California in Davis. His major contribution to science are in the areas of cell motility and division and innovations in cell imaging. The main focuses of his research have been System/Computational Biology, Cell Biophysics and Mathematical Biology. He is also a part of the Cell Migration Consortium.

Biography

Alex Mogilner was born in the Soviet Union on May 22 in 1962. Growing up Jewish in communism was tough, his official government I.D. had the word "Jew" stamped into it and this barred him from many professions. Speaking of his experience growing up Mogilner commented that "If you did well at school, you went into science. When I was growing up in the '70s, there was still this aura of nuclear reactors and the bomb, so lots of Jewish kids went into physics." Mogilner also chose this path and recieved his doctorate in physics in 1990 at the URal Division of the Academy of Sciences in his hometown of Ekaterinburg.

After just two years of research at the University of Minitoba, Mogilner was pulled toward the biologic realm of science. He subsequently went back to graduate school at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver where he received his Ph.D in Applied Mathematics, a program that combined math and biology. Mogilner's current work is in computational biology, which combines chemistry, biology, math and physics.

Mogilner's passion is in world travel. He's traveled Europe and Asia extensively, from the Himalayas to the Alps. "I like to be a bum when I travel. In Tibet, I basically slept with animals in their shelters," he says. "I go anywhere, whether it's dangerous or not, comfortable or not. The more exotic the better."

Research and Innovations

One of Mogilner's research topics is the mitotic spindle and how it is assembled. The mitotic spindle is the what pulls conjoined chromosomes apart during cell division. When the microtubules extend across the cell they seem to seek out the chromosomes. To solve a question scientists have been postulating over for many years, whether or not the seeking out of chromosomes is random, Mogilner wrote a code that allowed for the complete model of the entire process to be simulated on a computer. By changing the rate at which the process happened given the assumption that the process occurs randomly, it became apparent that if this really was just chance, there wouldn't be sufficient time for the spindle to assemble.

Mogilner hypothesized that the chromosomes were surrouned by proteins that directed the microtubules toward them. A few years after, research in Germany confirmed his prediction. In the years after the breakthrough, Mogilner's research was cited in hundreds of papers and changed the way scientists view cell division. His discovery even helped cellular biologists to understand the causes of gene instability which can lead to cancer.

Awards, Grants and Positions

• NIH RO1 grant NIGMS GM068952 ‘Modeling mitotic spindle assembly’. PI,

2007-2012.

• NSF Grant No. DMS 0715729 ‘Mechanochemical Regulation of the Motile Cell

Shape’. PI, 2007-2010.

• NIH GLUE grant NIGMS U54 GM64346 ‘Cell Migration Consortium’. Co-PI,

2006-2011.

• NIH RO1 grant NIGMS GM068952-01 ‘Dynamics of Mitotic Spindle Morphogenesis’.

PI, 2003-2007.

• NSF Grants No. DMS 9707750, 1097749, 0315782 on mathematical models of

cellular movements. PI, 1997-2006.

• NIH GLUE grant ‘Cell Migration Consortium’. Co-PI, 2001-2006.
• Chancellor’s Fellowship, University of California, Davis, 2000-2005.
• Fellowship in Mathematics and Molecular Biology, University of California,

Berkeley, 1995-96.

• Excellence in Teaching Award, University of British Columbia, 1995.
• Associate Editor, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology.
• Editorial Board Member, Molecular Biology of the Cell.
• Editorial Board Member, Cell.

Publications

• A.Mogilner, On weakly bound states of several quasi-particles in a threedimensional

crystal, Soviet Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 14: 536- 538 (1988).

• R.A.Minlos, A.Mogilner, On the bound states of two weakly interacting

quasi-particles with a strongly degenerated dispersion relation, Soviet Jour- nal of Low Temperature Physics, 14: 592-594 (1988).

• A.Mogilner, Magnon bound states in an easy-axis Heisenberg ferromagnet

of arbitrary dimensionality: Relation to magnetic solitons, Soviet Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, 69: 1033-1037 (1989).

• A.Khaitov, A.Mogilner, Bound states of two electrons and a magnon in SD

Model, Soviet Physics Doklady, 34: 886-887 (1989).

• A.Mogilner, M.H.Shermatov, Binding of two fermions with the third different

particle by a point-like interaction, Physics Letters A 149: 398-400 (1990).

• A.I.Artemjev, A.Mogilner, Bound states and scattering of two quasi-particles

with a linear dispersion law, Physics Letters A 152: 477-480 (1991).

• A.N.Melnikov, A.Mogilner, A generalization of Iorrio-O’Carrol theorem to

the case of lattice Hamiltonian, Journal of Physica A 24: 3671-3676 (1991).

• A.Mogilner, Hamiltonians in solid state physics as multiparticle discrete

Schrodinger operators: Problems and results, Advances in Soviet Mathe- matics, 5: 139-194 (1991).

• A.Mogilner, P.D.Loly, Vanishing gaps in 1D bandstructures, Journal of

Physics A 25: L855-L860 (1992).

• A.Mogilner, J.A.Tuszynski, Analytical solutions to classical nonlinear wave

equations and their quantum meaning, Nuovo Cimento B 108: 1159-1170 (1993).

• A.Mogilner, L.Edelstein-Keshet, Selecting a common direction. I. How

orientational order can arise from simple contact responces between interacting cells, Journal of Mathematical Biology, 33: 619-660 (1995).

• A.Mogilner, L.Edelstein-Keshet, G.B.Ermentrout, Selecting a common direction.

II. Peak-like solutions representing total alignment of cell clusters, Journal of Mathematical Biology, 34: 811-842 (1996).

• A.Mogilner, L.Edelstein-Keshet, Spatio-angular order in populations of

self-aligning objects: formation of oriented patches, Physica D, 89: 346- 367 (1996). 4

• A. Mogilner, G.Oster, Cell motility driven by actin polymerization, Bio-

physical Journal, 71: 3030-3045 (1996).

• A. Mogilner, G.Oster, The physics of lamellipodial protrusion, European

Biophysics Journal, 25: 47-53 (1996).

• H.-Y. Wang, T. Elston, A. Mogilner, G.Oster, Force generation in RNA

Polymerase, Biophysical Journal, 74: 1186-1202 (1998).

• A.Mogilner, M.Mangel, R.J.Baskin, Motion of molecular motor ratcheted

by internal fluctuations and protein friction, Physics Letters A 237: 297- 306 (1998).

• E. Geigant, K. Ladizhansky, A. Mogilner, An integro-differential model

for orientational distribution of F-actin in cells, SIAM Journal of Applied Mathematics, 59: 787-809 (1998).

• A. Mogilner, G.Oster, The polymerization ratchet model explains the forcevelocity

relation for growing microtubules, European Biophysics Journal, 28: 235-242 (1999).

• A.Mogilner, L.Edelstein-Keshet, A non-local model for a swarm, Journal

of Mathematical Biology, 38: 534-570 (1999).

• C. Lee, M. F. Hoopes, J. Diehl, W. Gilliland, G. Huxel, E. Liever, K.

McCann, J. Umbanhowar, A. Mogilner, Nonlocal concepts and models in biology, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 210: 201-219 (2001).

• A. Mogilner, A. J. Fisher, R. J. Baskin, Structural changes in the neck

linker of kinesin explain the load dependence of the motor’s mechanical cycle, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 211: 143-157 (2001).

• O. Igoshin, A. Mogilner, R. Welch, D. Kaiser, G. Oster, Pattern formation

and traveling waves in myxobacteria: Theory and modeling. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 98: 14913-14918 (2001).

• A. Mogilner, T. Elston, H.-Y. Wang, G. Oster, Molecular motors: Theory,

in Joel Keizer’s Computational Cell Biology, C. P. Fall, E. Marland, J. Tyson and J. Wagner, Eds., pp. 321-355, Springer, N.Y. (2002).

• A. Mogilner, T. Elston, H.-Y. Wang, G. Oster, Molecular motors: Examples,

in Joel Keizer’s Computational Cell Biology, C. P. Fall, E. Marland, J. Tyson and J. Wagner, Eds., pp. 356-380, Springer, N.Y. (2002).

• D. Bottino, A. Mogilner, T. Roberts, M. Stewart, G. Oster, How nematode

sperm crawl. J. Cell Science, 115: 367-384 (2002).

• A. Mogilner, L. Edelstein-Keshet, Regulation of Actin Dynamics in Rapidly

Moving Cells: A Quantitative Analysis. Biophys. J., 83: 1237-1258 (2002). 5

• J. M. Scholey and A. Mogilner, Mitotic Spindle Motors, in Molecular Mo-

tors, pp. 327-355. M. Schliwa, Ed., Wiley-VCH (2002).

• A. Mogilner, D. Verzi, A Simple 1-D Physical Model for the Crawling

Nematode Sperm Cell. J. Stat. Phys., 110: 1169-1189 (2003).

• E. Cytrynbaum, J. Scholey, A. Mogilner, A force balance model of early

spindle pole separation in Drosophila Embryos. Biophys. J., 84: 757-769 (2003).

• A. Mogilner, G. Oster, Force generation by actin polymerization II: The

elastic ratchet and tethered filaments. Biophys. J., 84: 1591-1605 (2003).

• J. M. Scholey, I. Brust-Mascher, A. Mogilner, Cell division. Nature, 422:

746-752 (2003).

• M. Luca, A. Chavez-Ross, L. Edelstein-Keshet, A. Mogilner, Chemotactic

signaling, microglia, and Alzheimer’s disease senile plaques: is there a connection? Bull. Math. Biol., 65: 693-730 (2003).

• A. Mogilner, L. Edelstein-Keshet, L. Bent, A. Spiros, Mutual interactions,

potentials, and individual distance in a social aggregation. J. Math. Biol., 47: 353-389 (2003).

• A. Mogilner, G. Oster, Polymer Motors: Pushing out the Front and Pulling

up the Back. Curr. Biol., 13: R721-R733 (2003).

• H. P. Grimm, A. B. Verkhovsky, A. Mogilner, J.-J. Meister, Analysis of

Actin Dynamics at the Leading Edge of Crawling Cells: Implications for the Shape of Keratocyte Lamellipodia. Eur. Biophys. J., 32: 563-577 (2003).

• A. Mogilner, G. Oster, Shrinking Gels Pull Cells. Science, 302: 1340-1341

(2003).

• B. C. Mazzag, I. B. Zhulin, A. Mogilner, Model of bacterial band formation

in aerotaxis. Biophys. J., 85: 3558-3574 (2003).

• C. Wolgemuth, A. Mogilner, G. Oster, The hydration dynamics of polyelectrolyte

gels with applications to drug delivery and cell motility. Eur. Biophys. J., 33: 146-158 (2004).

• E. Cytrynbaum, V. Rodionov, A.Mogilner, Computationalmodel of dyneindependent

self-organization of microtubule asters. J. Cell Sci., 117: 1381- 1397 (2004).

• I. Brust-Mascher, G. Civelekoglu-Scholey, M. Kwon, A. Mogilner and J. M.

Scholey, Model for anaphase B: Role of three mitotic motors in a switch from poleward flux to spindle elongation PNAS, 101: 15938-15943 (2004). 6

• I. L. Novak, B. M. Slepchenko, A. Mogilner, L. M. Loew, Cooperativity

between cell contractility and adhesion, Phys. Rev. Lett., 93: 268109 (2004).

• G. Civelekoglu-Scholey, A.Wayne Orr, I. Novak, J.-J.Meister, M.A. Schwartz,

A. Mogilner, Model of Coupled Transient Changes of Rac, Rho, Adhesions and Stress Fibers Alignment in Endothelial Cells Responding to Shear Stress, J. Theor. Biol., 232: 569-585 (2005).

• B. Rubinstein, K. Jacobson, A. Mogilner, Multiscale Two-Dimensional

Modeling of a Motile Simple-Shaped Cell. SIAM J. MMS, 3: 413-439 (2005).

• R. Wollman, E. N. Cytrynbaum, J. T. Jones, T. Meyer, J.M. Scholey, A.

Mogilner, Efficient chromosome capture requires a bias in the ”Searchand- Capture” process during mitotic spindle assembly. Curr. Biol., 15: 828-832 (2005).

• A. Mogilner and B. Rubinstein, The Physics of Filopodial Protrusion, Bio-

phys. J., 89: 782-795 (2005).

• E. N. Cytrynbaum, P. Sommi, I. Brust-Mascher, J.M. Scholey, A. Mogilner,

Early Spindle Assembly in Drosophila Embryos: Role of a Force-balance Involving Cytoskeletal Dynamics and Nuclear Mechanics, Mol. Biol. Cell, 16: 4967-4981 (2005).

• V. Malikov, E. N. Cytrynbaum, A. Kashina, A. Mogilner, V. Rodionov,

Centering of a radial microtubule array by translocation along microtubules spontaneously nucleated in the cytoplasm, Nature Cell Biol., 7: 1213-1218 (2005).

• A. Mogilner, On the Edge: Modeling Protrusion, Curr. Opin. Cell Biol.,

18: 32-39 (2006).

• S. Bohnet, R. Ananthakrishnan, A. Mogilner, J.-J. Meister, A. Verkhovsky,

Weak force stalls protrusion at the leading edge of the lamellipodium, Biophys. J., 90: 1810-1820 (2006).

• A. Mogilner, R. Wollman, G. Civelekoglu-Scholey, J. Scholey, Modeling

Mitosis, Trends Cell Biol., 16: 88-96 (2006).

• G. Civelekoglu-Scholey, D. J. Sharp, A. Mogilner, J. Scholey, Model of chromosome

motility in Drosophila embryos: Adaptation of a general mechanism for rapid mitosis, Biophys. J., 90: 3966-3982 (2006).

• A. Gallegos, B. Mazzag, A. Mogilner, Two continuum models for the

spreading of myxobacteria swarms, Bull. Math. Biol., 68:837-861 (2006).

• M. Karakozova,M. Kozak, C. C. L.Wong, A. Bailey, A. Mogilner, J. Yates,

A. Kashina, Arginylation of beta actin regulates actin cytoskeleton and cell motility, Science, 313: 192-196 (2006). 7

• E. Cytrynbaum, V. Rodionov, A. Mogilner, Nonlocal mechanism of selforganization

and centering of microtubule asters, Bull. Math. Biol., 68: 1053?1072 (2006).

• A. Mogilner, R. Wollman, W. Marshall, Quantitative modeling in cell biology:

what is it good for?, Dev. Cell, 11: 279-287 (2006).

• M. Prass, K. Jacobson, A. Mogilner, M. Radmacher, Direct measurement

of the lamellipodial protrusive force in migrating cell, J. Cell Biol., 174: 767-772 (2006).

• K. Larripa, A. Mogilner, Transport of a 1D viscoelastic actin-myosin strip

of gel as a model of a crawling cell, Physica A, 372: 113-123 (2006).

• X. Pan, G. Ou, G. Civelekoglu-Scholey, O. E. Blacque, N. F. Endres, L.

Tao, A. Mogilner, M. R. Leroux, R. D. Vale, J. M. Scholey, Mechanism of transport of IFT-particles in C. elegans cilia by the concerted action of kinesin-II and OSM-3 motors, J. Cell Biol., 174: 1035-1045 (2006).

• L. Tao, A. Mogilner, G. Civelekoglu-Scholey, R. Wollman, J. Evans, H.

Stahlberg, J. M. Scholey, The homotetrameric kinesin-5, KLP61F, forms crossbridges between Microtubules and antagonizes Ncd in Motility Assays, Curr. Biol., 16: 2293-2302 (2006).

• D. K. Cheerambathur, G. Civelekoglu-Scholey, I. Brust-Mascher, P. Sommi,

A. Mogilner, J. M. Scholey, Quantitative analysis of an anaphase B switch: predicted role for a microtubule catastrophe gradient. J. Cell Biol., 177: 995-1004 (2007).

• C. I. Lacayo, Z. Pincus, M. M. VanDuijn, C. A. Wilson, D. A. Fletcher,

F. B. Gertler, A. Mogilner, J. A. Theriot, Emergence of Large-Scale Cell Morphology and Movement from Local Actin Filament Growth Dynamics, PLOS Biology, 5: e233 (2007).

• M. M. Kozlov, A. Mogilner, Model of polarization and bi-stability of cell

fragments, Biophys. J., 93: 1-9 (2007).

• J. Fass, C. Pak, J. Bamburg, A. Mogilner, Stochastic Simulation of Actin

Dynamics Reveals the Role of Annealing and Fragmentation,J. Theor. Biol., 252: 173-183 (2008).

• R. Wollman, G. Civelekoglu-Scholey, J. M. Scholey, A. Mogilner, Reverse

engineering of force integration during mitosis in the Drosophila embryo, Mol. Syst. Biol., 4: 195 (2008).

• K. Keren, Z. Pincus, G.M. Allen, E. L. Barnhart, G. Marriott, A. Mogilner,

J. A. Theriot, Mechanism of shape determination in motile cells, Nature, 453: 475-480 (2008). 8

• I. L. Novak, B. M. Slepchenko, A. Mogilner, Quantitative analysis of Gactin

transport in motile cells, Biophys. J., 95: 1627-38 (2008).

• Choi CK, Vicente-Manzanares M, Zareno J, Whitmore LA, Mogilner A,

Horwitz AF. Actin and alpha-actinin orchestrate the assembly and maturation of nascent adhesions in a myosin II motor-independent manner. Nat. Cell Biol., 10: 1039-1050 (2008).

• A. Mogilner, Mathematics of cell motility: have we got its number? J Math

Biol., 58: 105-134 (2009).

• B. Rubinstein, K. Larripa, P. Sommi and A. Mogilner, Elasticity of motormicrotubule

bundles and shape of the mitotic spindle, Phys Biol., 6: 016005 (2009).

• Assaf Zemel, Alex Mogilner. Motor-induced sliding of microtubule and

actin bundles. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 11: 4821-4833 (2009).

• Keren K, Yam PT, Kinkhabwala A, Mogilner A, Theriot J. Intracellular

fluid flow in rapidly moving cells, Nature Cell Biol., 11: 1219-1224 (2009).

• Raja Paul, Roy Wollman, William T. Silkworth, Isaac K. Nardi, Daniela

Cimini, Alex Mogilner. Computer simulations predict that chromosome movements and rotations acceleratemitotic spindle assembly without compromising accuracy, PNAS, 106: 15708-1513 (2009).

• Mogilner A., Keren K. The shape of motile cells, Curr Biol., 19: R762-R771

(2009).

• M J Dayel, O Akin, M Landeryou, V I Risca, A Mogilner, R D Mullins,

In Silico Reconstitution of Actin-Based Symmetry Breaking and Motility, PLoS Biology, 7:e1000201 (2009).

• B. Rubinstein, M. F. Fournier, K. Jacobson, A. Verkhovsky, A. Mogilner

Actin-myosin viscoelastic flow in the keratocyte lamellipod, Biophys. J., 97: 1853-1863 (2009).

• N. P. Ferenz, R. Paul, C. Fagerstrom, A.Mogilner, P.Wadsworth, Dynein/Eg5

antagonism during bipolar spindle formation and maintenance requires overlapping centrosomal microtubules, Curr Biol., 19: 1833-1838 (2009).

• Ambarish Kunwar, Alex Mogilner, Robust Transport by Multiple Motors

with Non-linear Force-Velocity Relations and Stochastic Load Sharing, Phys Biol., 7:16012 (2010).

• A. Mogilner and B. Rubinstein, Actin disassembly ‘clock’ and membrane

tension determine cell shape and turning: mathematical model, J Phys: Condens Matter, 22: 194118 (2010). 9

• P. Sommi, R. Ananthakrishnan, D. K. Cheerambathur,M. Kwon, S.Morales-

Mulia, I. Brust-Mascher, A. Mogilner, A Mitotic Kinesin-6, PavKLP, Mediates Interdependent Cortical Reorganization and Spindle Dynamics in Drosophila Embryos, J Cell Sci., 123: 1862-1872 (2010).

• A. Mogilner, E. Craig,Toward a quantitative understanding of mitoticspindle

assembly and mechanics, J Cell Sci., : In Press (2010). 10

References

(1)http://www.biomedexperts.com/Start/PersonDetailPage.aspx?pid=956501 (2)http://www.nature.com/ncb/journal/v10/n9/abs/ncb1763.html (3)http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v453/n7194/full/nature06952.html (4)http://biosci3.ucdavis.edu/FacultyAndResearch/FacultyProfile.aspx?FacultyID=367 (5)http://www.ucdavis.edu/spotlight/0309/mogilner_equals_science_cubed.html (6)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHgKXmzypjE

External links

• example.com