Abstract: 

Despite the fundamental role of cell division in the propagation of cellular life, eukaryotes have evolved a diverse range of strategies to remodel and partition organelles and cellular contents in mitosis. What drives the evolution of mitotic mechanisms? Bridging lab and field expeditions, we use a range of microbial model systems, comparative genomics, imaging and experimental evolution to probe mitotic diversity on short and long evolutionary timescales. I will present our recent work on karyotype evolution in budding yeast, on mitotic mechanisms in deep-branching holozoans and in green algae, and finally our initial efforts to generate a eukaryotic mitotic atlas.   

About the Speaker:

Gautam is a Group Leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), based in the Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit of its Heidelberg headquarters. His research group investigates the evolution and diversity of mitosis and nuclear remodelling across eukaryotes using a combination of comparative cell biology, experimental evolution and genomics. Gautam started his group at EMBL in early 2021, after a postdoc at UCL with Buzz Baum. Gautam holds a PhD from Stanford University and a research MSc. from NCBS. Gautam is an ERC Investigator (2023-2028), an EMBO Young Investigator (2025-2028), a FEBS Excellence Fellow (2024-2026); a previous holder of a Marie-Sklodowska Curie postdoctoral fellowship (2017-2018) and a Stanford Graduate Fellowship in Science and Engineering (2009-2012).