“It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, …and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, …have all been produced by laws acting around us.” — Charles Darwin
Ann Cavanaugh
Assistant Professor
Evolution and Formation of Protein Complexes
Ph.D. – University of California, Los Angeles, 2015
B.S. – Creighton University, 2008
Creighton University
2500 California Plaza
Omaha, NE 68178-0103
Additional website: https://cavanaughlab.wordpress.com
Courses Offered
- BIO 362 – Cell Structure and Function
Research Interests
In the Cavanaugh lab we use two related species of yeast, S. cerevisiae, and K. lactis, to study the organization, dynamics, and evolution of the spindle pole body (SPB). The SPB is a microtubule organizing center and serves to organize and regulate the formation of the mitotic spindle in yeast. Although the function of the SPB is vitally important for yeast reproduction, the structure and composition of this large, multi-protein structure varies widely across the yeast phyla. By studying the SPB in two species of budding yeast we hope to uncover mechanisms by which individual proteins are able to co-evolve as part of a large protein structure.
Scholarly Works
Publications
Cavanaugh, A. M. and S. L. Jaspersen. 2017. Big lessons from little yeast: Budding and fission yeast Centrosome Structure, Duplication, and Function. Annual Reviews Genetics. 51: 361-383.
Cavanaugh, A. M., J. Huang, J.-N. Chen. 2015. Two developmentally distinct populations of neural crest cells contribute to the zebrafish heart. Developmental Biology2): 103-112.
Patterson, R. A., A. M. Cavanaugh, V. Cantemir, P. R. Brauer, M. V. Reedy. 2013. MT2-MMP expression during early avian morphogenesis. The Anatomical Record. 296(1): 64-70.
Langenbacher, A. D., C. T. Nguyen, A. M. Cavanaugh, J. Huang, F. Lu, J.-N. Chen. 2011. The PAF1 complex differentially regulates cardiomyocyte specification. Developmental Biology. 353: 19-28.
O’Brien, G. S., S. Rieger, S. M. Martin, A. M. Cavanaugh, C. Portera-Cailliau, A. Sagasti. 2009. Two-photon axotomy and time-lapse confocal imaging in live zebrafish embryos. Journal of Visualized Experiments. 24: 1129.