Fred Chang, PhD, MD

The Chang Lab studies fundamental questions concerning spatial organization within a single cell: How are cell shape and size determined? How do cells sense their own size, or their shape? How do molecular dynamics and cell mechanics contribute to determine the growth, size and shape of cells? To address these questions, we study primarily the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. These are rod-shaped eukaryotic cells that display a highly uniform size and morphology. Many of our studies use live cell imaging and image analyses to develop quantitative models. Current projects include: regulation of cell size and growth, cytoplasmic density and turgor pressure, cell wall assembly, cytokinesis, and microtubule regulation. We use interdisciplinary approaches, combining the expertise and perspectives of cell biologists, geneticists, physicists, engineers and modelers.