Assistant Professor

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Address: Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy
Arizona Cancer Center, Room 0977A
Tucson, AZ 85724
Phone: 520-626-3925
E-Mail: grogers@azcc.arizona.edu

Research Interests

My laboratory is interested in the molecular mechanisms cells use to maintain stability of their genomes. This is medically relevant because genomic instability can promote tumorigenesis. During mitosis, cells face particular risk, as errors in chromosome segregation can lead to chromosome instability (CIN) which is characterized, in part, by an abnormal chromosome complement (known as aneuploidy). Indeed, aneuploidy promotes malignant transformation and is an underlying cause of birth defects. Mitotic spindles are used to faithfully segregate chromosomes into daughter cells and, for this to occur properly, it is critical that cells assemble spindles with a bipolar fusiform-shape. Cells control spindle shape using centrosomes, tiny organelles that nucleate the microtubule cytoskeleton and organize the two spindle poles. Normally, cells contain a single centrosome which duplicates once per cell cycle, thus ensuring that cells enter mitosis with only two centrosomes to build a bipolar spindle. Cancer cells, however, overduplicate their centrosomes, which leads to multipolar spindle formation and chromosome instability. In fact, most human tumors contain cells with elevated centrosome numbers and aneuploid genomes. Importantly, the fundamental mechanisms that cells use to control their centrosome number are unclear, nor is it understood how this regulation goes awry in cancer. My work centers on characterizing a particular pathway (the Plk4 pathway) to control the biogenesis of centrosomes. This pathway utilizes both phosphorylation and ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis as regulatory mechanisms in a complex signaling pathway to control the biogenesis of centrosomes.

Another active project in my lab is the study of how cells generate their microtubule arrays, particularly during interphase (the non-dividing period of the cell cycle). The dogma that centrosomes are the source of all interphase microtubules is almost certainly incorrect. Thus, we interested in identifying alternative microtubule-nucleating factors that cells use to build their interphase arrays.

Selected Publications

Rusan NM, Rogers GC. Jan 2009. Centrosome function: Sometimes less is more. Traffic,2009 Jan 24;

Rogers GC, Rusan NM, Roberts DM, Peifer M, Rogers SL. Jan 2009. The SCF Slimb ubiquitin ligase regulates Plk4/Sak levels to block centriole reduplication. J Cell Biol, 184:225-39

Hall JR, Lee HO, Bunker BD, Dorn ES, Rogers GC, Duronio RJ, Cook JG. Sep 2008. Cdt1 and Cdc6 are destabilized by rereplication-induced DNA damage. J Biol Chem, 283:25356-63

Rogers GC, Rusan NM, Peifer M, Rogers SL. Jul 2008. A multicomponent assembly pathway contributes to the formation of acentrosomal microtubule arrays in interphase Drosophila cells. Mol Biol Cell, 19:3163-78