Condensin 
 
About us
PI: Brigitte (Bri) Lavoie
Tech2: Bill Waples
Tech1.: Fatemeh Shaeri
PhD stud.: Charly Chahwan
PhD stud.: Lisa D’Ambrosio
4th yr stud.: Yi-Ting Hsieh
 
 
Previous lab members
Wendy Lam, MSc
Erica Peterson, Tech2
Ju Yoon Yoon, MSc
Daniella Coraci, Tech1
Kelly Thickett, MSc
Marta Ciechonska, undergrad
Maria Soloveychik, undergrad
Emily Lee, undergrad
MY CONTACT
Email: brigitte.lavoie@utoronto.ca
Address:
Dept of Molecular Genetics,
Medical Sciences Bld room 4278
1 King’s College Circle
Toronto, Ontario CANADA
M5S 1A8
 
PH  1-416-978-6123
FAX 1-416-978-6885
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Image depicts a large budded yeast cell with precociously separated sister chromatids (green dots)...and it was a tasty cake as well
 
 
The condensins...not just for condensation any more  While the condensin complex was first identified biochemically (Hirano and Mitchinson, 1997 Cell), the first condensin subunits...notably the SMC proteins, were identified in the early 90s through yeast genetic screens. The SMCs or Structural Maintenance of Chromosomes family is ubiquitous in nature, and is characterized by an ATPase domain (formed by the N & C termini of the protein) separated from the hinge domain by a long antiparallel coiled coil region. SMCs heterodimerize, and pairs of SMCs are involved in multiple aspects of DNA metabolism including mitotic chromosome condensation, sister chromatid cohesion and DNA damage repair. In the condensin complex also comprises three additional regulatory subunits which are required for condensin function. My group seeks to understand how condensin works at the molecular level. Recent work has demonstrated that condensin affects multiple aspects of DNA metabolism, and the big question now is to understand how it can do so many apparently different things. It seems likely that the fundamental enzymatic activity of condensin will underlie all of these DNA transactions although the fundamental activity of condensin in vivo (or on a chromatinized substrate) is not yet understood.