Stochastic Organization in the Mitotic Spindle

For cells to divide, they must undergo mitosis: the process of spatially organizing their copied DNA (chromosomes) to precise locations in the cell. This procedure is carried out by stochastic components that manage to accomplish the task with astonishing speed and accuracy. New advances from our collaborators in the New York Dept of Health provide 3D spatial trajectories of every chromosome in a cell during mitosis. Can these trajectories tell us anything about the mechanisms driving them? The structure and context of this cutting-edge data makes utilizing classical tools from data science or particle tracking challenging. I will discuss my progress with Alex Mogilner on developing analysis for this data and mathematical modeling of emergent phenomena.