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Home > Research Leaders > A to G > Buzz Baum
Benjamin (Buzz) Baum cb

Buzz Baum

The generation and evolution of biological form

Human Sulfolobus fly2 figure

My lab is interested in the generation of biological form or “morphogenesis”. While we have long studied morphogenesis in the context of developing tissues, our main focus has always been on events at the cellular scale. This is because the cell is the unit of life and because tissue movements are driven by changes in the shape and mechanical properties of individual cells, which in turn depend on forces generated by a small number of cytoskeletal elements within these cells.

The most extraordinary and fundamental of all morphogenetic processes is cell division: the process by which one cell becomes two. During division, in the space of a few minutes, all the component parts of the cell must be moved apart and partitioned into two daughter cells. Moreover, the process must be precise, since errors are associated with diseases like cancer in humans, and frequently cause cell death.

While our group, like many others, has long studied the cell biology of division in eukaryotic cells, it has recently become clear that many aspects of the process have been conserved over billions of years of evolution. In fact, many have their origins in archaea. To explore the fundamentals of the division process, my lab is therefore studying how both archaea and eukaryotic cells divide into two, using Sulfolobus (an archaeon), Drosophila, yeast and human cells as model systems. By doing so, we aim to identify the most deeply conserved processes and to discover how the division machinery changed during the evolution of eukaryotes. We also expect this work to shed light on the process by which the eukaryotic cell first emerged from the symbiosis of an archaeal cell and its bacterial partner – something that remains one of the greatest mysteries in the history of life on earth.

Finally, given the fundamental nature of cell division, we expect this work to improve our understanding of the way the core division machinery functions to aid normal tissue development and homeostasis and, when it goes awry, contributes to the evolution of metastatic cancer.

Selected Papers

  • J Liu, M Tassinari, D P Souza, S Naskar, JK Noel, O Bohuszewicz, M Buck, TA Williams, B Baum*, HH Low* (2020)
    Bacterial Vipp1 and PspA are members of the ancient ESCRT-III membrane-remodelling superfamily.
    BioRxivv,
  • G Dey, S Culley, S Curran, U Schmidt, R Henriques, W Kukulski, and B Baum. (2020)
    Closed mitosis requires local disassembly of the nuclear envelope.
    Nature 585: 119-123.
  • G Tarrason Risa, F Hurtig, S Bray, AE Hafner, L Harker-KirschnecK, P Faull, C Davis, D Papatziamou, DR Mutavchiev, C Fan, L Meneguello, AA Pulschen, G Dey, S Culley, M Kilkenny, L Pellegrini, RAM de Bruin, R Henriques, AP Snijders, A Šarić, A-C Lindås, NP Robinson* and B Baum* (2020)
    The proteasome controls ESCRT-III-mediated cell division in an archaeon.
    Science 369: (6504).
  • AK Pfitzner, V Mercier, X Jiang, J Moser von Filseck, B Baum, A Šarić, A. Roux (2020)
    Sequential polymerization of ESCRT subunits drives membrane deformation and fission
    Cell 182: 1140-1155.
  • DA Baum & B Baum (2020)
    The merger that made us.
    BMC Biol. 18(1): 72
  • AA Pulschen, DR Mutavchiev, S Culley, KN Sebastian, J Roubinet, M Roubinet, G Tarrason Risa, M van Wolferen, C Roubinet, U Schmidt, G Dey, S-V Albers, R Henriques, B Baum. (2020)
    Live Imaging of a Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Reveals Distinct Roles for Two ESCRT-III Homologs in Ensuring a Robust and Symmetric Division.
    Current Biology 30: 1-8.
  • Harker-Kirschneck L, Baum B, and Šarić, A. (2019)
    Changes in ESCRT-III filament geometry drive membrane remodelling and fission in silico.
    BMC Biol. 17: 82.
  • HK Matthews, S Ganguli, K Plak, AV Taubenberger, M Piel, J Guck, B Baum. (2020)
    Oncogenic signaling alters cell shape and mechanics to facilitate cell division under confinement.
    Dev Cell 52(5): 563-573.
  • Rodrigues, NT., Lekomtsev, S., Jananji, S., Kriston-Vizi, J., Hickson, GR., & Baum, B. (2015)
    Kinetochore- localized PP1-Sds22 couples chromosome segregation to polar relaxation.
    Nature 524(7566): 489-492.
  • Baum, D, Baum, B. (2014)
    An inside-out origin for eukaryote cells.
    BMC Biol. 12: 76.
  • Marinari, E., Mehonic, A., Curran, S., Gale, J., Duke, T., Baum, B. (2012)
    Live-cell delamination counterbalances epithelial growth to limit tissue overcrowding.
    Nature 484(7395): 542-545.

Group Members

  • Oskar Batty
  • Alice Cezanne
  • Sherman Foo
  • Yin-Wei (Kris) Kuo
  • Florian Mayer
  • Joe Parham
  • Diorge Paulo de Souza
  • Chantal Roubinet
  • Jovan Traparic

Primary Sidebar

Research Leaders

  • A to G
    • Matteo Allegretti
    • Radu Aricescu
    • David Barford
    • Buzz Baum
    • Anne Bertolotti
    • Tanmay Bharat
    • Mariann Bienz
    • Simon Bullock
    • Albert Cardona
    • Andrew Carter
    • Jason Chin
    • Gerry Crossan
    • Emmanuel Derivery
    • Michel Goedert
    • Julian Gough
    • Ingo Greger
  • H to M
    • Michael Hastings
    • Ramanujan Hegde
    • Richard Henderson
    • Philipp Holliger
    • Leo James
    • Gregory Jefferis
    • Patrycja Kozik
    • Madeline Lancaster
    • Jan Löwe
    • Kate McDole
    • Andrew McKenzie
    • Harvey McMahon
    • Liz Miller
    • Sean Munro
    • Garib Murshudov
  • N to S
    • Kelly Nguyen
    • John O’Neill
    • Lori Passmore
    • Lalita Ramakrishnan
    • Venki Ramakrishnan
    • Felix Randow
    • Jing Ren
    • Christopher Russo
    • Benjamin Ryskeldi-Falcon
    • Julian Sale
    • William Schafer
    • Sjors Scheres
    • Marta Shahbazi
    • John Sutherland
  • T to Z
    • Chris Tate
    • Marco Tripodi
    • Ana Tufegdžić Vidaković
    • Roger Williams
    • Joseph Yeeles
    • Suyang Zhang
    • Marta Zlatic
  • Emeritus
    • Brad Amos
    • Tony Crowther
    • Phil Evans
    • Alan Fersht
    • Michael Gait
    • Rob Kay
    • John Kendrick-Jones
    • John Kilmartin
    • Peter Lawrence
    • Andrew Leslie
    • David Neuhaus
    • Hugh Pelham
    • Daniela Rhodes
    • Murray Stewart
    • Andrew Travers
    • Nigel Unwin
    • Greg Winter
  • LMB Fellows
  • Molecular Immunity Unit

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