Seminar title: Hidden rhythms of the cell: autonomous clocks in cytoplasmic organization and division

Abstract: Our knowledge of cellular time control has long centered on concepts of the cell cycle, where CDK/cyclins are considered the master clock for the cell. Recent advances challenge this textbook view by unveiling ‘autonomous clocks’ – timing mechanisms that are entrained by CDK/cyclins to run at the pace of nuclear divisions in proliferating cells, but can also run autonomously to serve various timekeeping roles in cellular physiology. Here I will present our journey through this emerging field – from our early days with the discovery of an autonomous clock that regulates centriole biogenesis, to our latest work revealing that cytoplasmic divisions can occur in cycles without the nucleus and CDK/cyclin complexes.