Angelika Amon
Encyclopedia
Angelika Amon, Ph.D. is an Austrian American molecular
and cell biologist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts
, United States
. Amon's research centers on how chromosomes are regulated, duplicated, and partitioned in the cell cycle
.
and continued her doctoral work there under Professor Kim Nasmyth
at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, receiving the Ph.D.
in 1993. She completed a two year post-doctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute
in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was subsequently named a Whitehead Fellow for three years. She joined the MIT Center for Cancer Research and MIT's Department of Biology in 1999 and was promoted to full professor in 2007.
Amon won a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 1998, was named an associate investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
in 2000, and was the 2003 recipient of the National Science Foundation
's Alan T. Waterman Award
. Amon also shared the 2007 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research and won the 2008 National Academy of Sciences
Award in Molecular Biology.
Amon is married and has two daughters.
. More specifically, her research examines the regulation of exit from mitosis
, the regulation of the meiotic cell cycle
, and effects of aneuploidy
on normal physiology and tumorigenesis.
As a student under Nasmyth, Amon demonstrated that CDC28 protein kinase is not required for the metaphase
to anaphase
transition and CLB2 proteolysis continues until reactivation of CDC28 toward the end of G1
.
The Amon lab primarily investigates yeast
(Saccharomyces cerevisiae
) as a model for understanding the controls that govern cell-cycle progression. As a Whitehead Fellow, her team discovered that CDC20
plays a crucial role in cell division. Her Whitehead team identified an interaction between phosphatase
and CDC14
which initiates the exit of cells from mitosis to the G1 phase. Amon's team demonstrated that CDC20 is the target protein in the spindle checkpoint
during mitosis.
Amon's more recent work has investigated the regulation of chromosome segregation
and how chromosomes are accurately transmitted to gametes in meiosis
by examining gene regulatory networks. She identified two regulatory networks (FEAR and MEN) that promote the release of CDC14 which have the potential to identify the mechanisms that control the final stages of the mitotic cell cycle.
Her research group recently created haploid yeast cells containing extra copies of chromosomes and discovered that these aneuploid strains elicit phenotype
s independent of the identity of the additional chromosome such as defects in cell cycle progression, increased energy demands, and interference with protein biosynthesis
. Amon has also examined trisomy
in the mouse as a model of mammalian cell growth and physiology and demonstrated that mammalian aneuploidy results in a stress response analogous to yeast aneuploidy. Amon's aneuploidy research has potential applications to cancer research
.
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
and cell biologist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Amon's research centers on how chromosomes are regulated, duplicated, and partitioned in the cell cycle
Cell cycle
The cell cycle, or cell-division cycle, is the series of events that takes place in a cell leading to its division and duplication . In cells without a nucleus , the cell cycle occurs via a process termed binary fission...
.
Background
Amon had an early interest in plant and animal biology as a child, keeping a notebook full of newspaper clippings, and was motivated to study biology after learning about Mendelian genetics in middle school. She received her B.S. from the University of ViennaUniversity of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
and continued her doctoral work there under Professor Kim Nasmyth
Kim Nasmyth
Professor Kim Nasmyth FRS is the Whitley Professor of Biochemistry . Nasmyth was formerly the Director of the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, Austria and the Head of the Department of Biochemistry of the University of Oxford...
at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, receiving the Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1993. She completed a two year post-doctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute
Whitehead Institute
Founded in 1982, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research and teaching institution located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA....
in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was subsequently named a Whitehead Fellow for three years. She joined the MIT Center for Cancer Research and MIT's Department of Biology in 1999 and was promoted to full professor in 2007.
Amon won a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 1998, was named an associate investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a United States non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded by the American businessman Howard Hughes in 1953. It is one of the largest private funding organizations for biological and medical research in the United...
in 2000, and was the 2003 recipient of the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
's Alan T. Waterman Award
Alan T. Waterman Award
The Alan T. Waterman Award is the United States's highest honorary award for scientists no older than 35. It is awarded on a yearly basis by the National Science Foundation. In addition to the medal, the awardee receives a grant of $500,000 to be used for advanced scientific research at the...
. Amon also shared the 2007 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research and won the 2008 National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
Award in Molecular Biology.
Amon is married and has two daughters.
Research
Amon's research has investigated how cells control and organize the segregation of their chromosomes during cell divisionCell cycle
The cell cycle, or cell-division cycle, is the series of events that takes place in a cell leading to its division and duplication . In cells without a nucleus , the cell cycle occurs via a process termed binary fission...
. More specifically, her research examines the regulation of exit from mitosis
Mitosis
Mitosis is the process by which a eukaryotic cell separates the chromosomes in its cell nucleus into two identical sets, in two separate nuclei. It is generally followed immediately by cytokinesis, which divides the nuclei, cytoplasm, organelles and cell membrane into two cells containing roughly...
, the regulation of the meiotic cell cycle
Meiosis
Meiosis is a special type of cell division necessary for sexual reproduction. The cells produced by meiosis are gametes or spores. The animals' gametes are called sperm and egg cells....
, and effects of aneuploidy
Aneuploidy
Aneuploidy is an abnormal number of chromosomes, and is a type of chromosome abnormality. An extra or missing chromosome is a common cause of genetic disorders . Some cancer cells also have abnormal numbers of chromosomes. Aneuploidy occurs during cell division when the chromosomes do not separate...
on normal physiology and tumorigenesis.
As a student under Nasmyth, Amon demonstrated that CDC28 protein kinase is not required for the metaphase
Metaphase
Metaphase, from the ancient Greek μετά and φάσις , is a stage of mitosis in the eukaryotic cell cycle in which condensed & highly coiled chromosomes, carrying genetic information, align in the middle of the cell before being separated into each of the two daughter cells...
to anaphase
Anaphase
Anaphase, from the ancient Greek ἀνά and φάσις , is the stage of mitosis or meiosis when chromosomes move to opposite poles of the cell....
transition and CLB2 proteolysis continues until reactivation of CDC28 toward the end of G1
G1 phase
The G1 phase is a period in the cell cycle during interphase, before the S phase. For many cells, this phase is the major period of cell growth during its lifespan. During this stage new organelles are being synthesized, so the cell requires both structural proteins and enzymes, resulting in great...
.
The Amon lab primarily investigates yeast
Yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
(Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a species of yeast. It is perhaps the most useful yeast, having been instrumental to baking and brewing since ancient times. It is believed that it was originally isolated from the skin of grapes...
) as a model for understanding the controls that govern cell-cycle progression. As a Whitehead Fellow, her team discovered that CDC20
CDC20
The cell-division cycle protein 20 is an essential regulator of cell division that is encoded by the CDC20 gene in humans. To the best of current knowledge its most important function is to activate the anaphase promoting complex , a large 11-13 subunit complex that initiates chromatid separation...
plays a crucial role in cell division. Her Whitehead team identified an interaction between phosphatase
Phosphatase
A phosphatase is an enzyme that removes a phosphate group from its substrate by hydrolysing phosphoric acid monoesters into a phosphate ion and a molecule with a free hydroxyl group . This action is directly opposite to that of phosphorylases and kinases, which attach phosphate groups to their...
and CDC14
Cdc14
Cdc14 was defined by Hartwell in his famous screen for loci that control the cell cycle of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Cdc14 was later shown to encode a protein phosphatase. Cdc14 is dual-specificity, which means it has serine/threonine and tyrosine-directed activity. A preference for serines...
which initiates the exit of cells from mitosis to the G1 phase. Amon's team demonstrated that CDC20 is the target protein in the spindle checkpoint
Spindle checkpoint
In order to preserve one cell's identity and its proper functioning, it is necessary to maintain constant the appropriate number of chromosomes after each cell division...
during mitosis.
Amon's more recent work has investigated the regulation of chromosome segregation
Chromosome segregation
Chromosome segregation is a step in cell reproduction or division, where chromosomes pair off with their similar homologous chromosome. In mitosis, a complete copy of each one is made. In meiosis, one chromosome from each pair migrates to opposite ends of the cell and the genes are split to make a...
and how chromosomes are accurately transmitted to gametes in meiosis
Meiosis
Meiosis is a special type of cell division necessary for sexual reproduction. The cells produced by meiosis are gametes or spores. The animals' gametes are called sperm and egg cells....
by examining gene regulatory networks. She identified two regulatory networks (FEAR and MEN) that promote the release of CDC14 which have the potential to identify the mechanisms that control the final stages of the mitotic cell cycle.
Her research group recently created haploid yeast cells containing extra copies of chromosomes and discovered that these aneuploid strains elicit phenotype
Phenotype
A phenotype is an organism's observable characteristics or traits: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, behavior, and products of behavior...
s independent of the identity of the additional chromosome such as defects in cell cycle progression, increased energy demands, and interference with protein biosynthesis
Protein biosynthesis
Protein biosynthesis is the process in which cells build or manufacture proteins. The term is sometimes used to refer only to protein translation but more often it refers to a multi-step process, beginning with amino acid synthesis and transcription of nuclear DNA into messenger RNA, which is then...
. Amon has also examined trisomy
Trisomy
A trisomy is a type of polysomy in which there are three copies, instead of the normal two, of a particular chromosome. A trisomy is a type of aneuploidy .-Description and causes:...
in the mouse as a model of mammalian cell growth and physiology and demonstrated that mammalian aneuploidy results in a stress response analogous to yeast aneuploidy. Amon's aneuploidy research has potential applications to cancer research
Cancer research
Cancer research is basic research into cancer in order to identify causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatments and cure....
.