Dr. Alison Kickuth was awarded the Otto Hahn Medal from the Max Planck Society in recognition of her outstanding scientific achievements as a former PhD student from the Jan Brugués Group. During her PhD project on the “Physical Mechanism of Unilateral Cytokinesis”, she used “biophysical tools to investigate how an incomplete contractile ring, a temporary cellular structure that “pinches” a dividing cell into two daughter cells, can still drive cell division in early zebrafish embryos.” according to the MPI-CBG website. Kickuth also added that their work “uncovers a mechanical ratchet mechanism, in which the cytoplasm alternates between stiff and fluid states, enabling a contractile ring without loose ends to progressively divide the cell” and that the “work solves a fundamental physical problem in vertebrate development.”

Prof. Brugués is currently recruiting a PhD candidate for the Project B5, in the framework of the RTG 3120 “Biomolecular Condensates”. Click here to apply!