Nov. 26, 2008 A Florida State University College of Medicine
research team led by Yanchang Wang has discovered an important
new layer of regulation in the cell division cycle, which could
lead to a greater understanding of the way cancer begins. Wang,
an assistant professor of biomedical sciences at the College of
Medicine, said the findings will lead to an improved ability to
diagnose cancer and could lead to the design of new drugs that
kill cancer cells by inhibiting cell reproduction. His paper on
the discovery has been published in the journal Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences. "The correct timing of
chromosome segregation during cell division is necessary to
ensure normal, healthy growth," Wang said. "Now we have
discovered a previously undetected layer of regulation in how
the chromosomes separate, which helps to ensure the correct
timing and decreases the potential for the formation of
cancerous growth." The cell division cycle is a collection of
tightly regulated events that lead to cel