The CrickConnect team are delighted to be able to invite community members to join us for the institute's regular Crick Lecture.

Crick Lectures provide a broad insight into biomedical research from leading scientists. Not to be missed, the one-hour lectures are the event of the week for the Crick community to come together. The lectures aim to be accessible to scientists across different disciplines, while also offering something for the specialist.

This week, Principle Group Leader Frank Uhlmann will be giving the lecture “Why does a chromosome look like a chromosome? (and not like a ball of yarn)”

There will also be an opportunity to catch up with colleagues and friends over refreshments after the Lecture from 17:00. If you are able to join us in person at the Crick please let us know at connect@crick.ac.uk so we can arrange access.

Frank Uhlmann

Frank studied biochemistry and physiological chemistry at the University of Tübingen before joining Jerry Hurwitz's laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for his PhD studies. He then moved to the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, Austria, to work as a postdoc with Kim Nasmyth.

In 2000 he established a lab at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (which would become the London Research Institute and subsequently the Crick). The Uhlmann Chromosome Segregation Lab studies how cells organise and separate their DNA when they divide, and finds out how mistakes in this process underpin human disease.

Every human cell contains more than two metres of DNA, divided up into 23 pairs of chromosomes (lengths of DNA), making 46 in total. Every time a cell divides to make two new cells, the original ‘parent’ cell must copy all of its DNA, then divide the chromosomes equally between the two ‘daughters’, ensuring that each one ends up with the correct set of 23 pairs. Problems with this process lead to cells ending up with the wrong number of chromosomes, which might cause them to stop dividing, die or even become cancerous.

Using yeast as a model for human cells, the lab is investigating how cells organise and separate their chromosomes as they divide and finding out how they make sure that each daughter ends up with exactly the right number. They are particularly interested in studying the molecules that pack down the chromosomes as a cell gets ready to divide, and the biological ‘glue’ that holds them together until it is time to separate into the daughter cells.