Researcher

Iain Cheeseman

Profile

Iain Cheeseman is a Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Professor of Biology at MIT. He is a leading expert on kinetochores — the massive protein complexes that attach chromosomes to spindle microtubules during cell division — and their role in ensuring accurate chromosome segregation. Cheeseman's laboratory performed systematic proteomic and functional analyses that established the complete molecular composition of the human kinetochore outer layer, identifying the KMN network (KNL1-Mis12-Ndc80 complex) as the core microtubule-attachment module and revealing how error correction mechanisms ensure only correctly attached chromosomes are segregated. His group also studies how kinetochores interface with the spindle assembly checkpoint — the surveillance system that delays cell division until all chromosomes are properly attached. Chromosome missegregation is a hallmark of cancer cells, and Cheeseman's mechanistic work underpins drug discovery efforts targeting the spindle checkpoint and mitotic machinery. The Cheeseman laboratory uses cryo-EM, live-cell fluorescence imaging with custom-built spinning-disk confocal systems, proteomics by mass spectrometry, and CRISPR-based genome editing — representing substantial purchases of electron microscopy consumables, fluorescent reagents, and mass spectrometry instrument time. He has been recognized with the Damon Runyon Scholar Award, an NIH New Innovator Award, and a Pew Biomedical Scholar Award.

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