James R. LaFountain
PhD
Professor, SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching
Research Interests
Cell biology: mechanism of chromosome segregation
Education
- PhD, State University of New York, Albany
Office Hours
- Tuesday, Thursday: 8:00 - 9:00am
Research Summary
My research addresses questions about the mechanism underlying the segregation of chromosomes during meiosis. Current experiments entail use of laser microsurgery to release kinetochores from tension, and this is followed by studying the relationship between movement of released kinetochores and the dynamic flux of microtubules attached to them. See recent publications for details.
Selected Publications
- LaFountain, J.R., Jr., Seaman, C. E., Cohan, C. S., & Oldenbourg, R. (2024). Sliding of antiparallel microtubules drives bipolarization of monoastral spindles. Cytoskeleton, 81(2-3), 167–183. Research article.
- LaFountain, J.R., Jr., Rickards GK. 2022. Meiosis remodeled: Inclusion of new parts to Poppit Bead models enhances understanding of meiosis. CourseSource.
- Lindgren, J., Nilsson,D.E., Sjövall, P., Jarenmark, M., Ito, S., Wakamatsu, K., Kear, B.P., Schultz, B.P., Sylvestersen,R.L., Madsen, H., LaFountain, J.R. Jr., Alwmark,C., Eriksson, M.E., Hall, S.A., Lindgren, P., Rodríguez-Meizoso, I. and Ahlberg, P. 2019. Fossil insect eyes shed light on trilobite optics and the arthropod pigment screen. Nature. 573 (7772), 122-125. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1473-z
- La Fountain J.R. and Cohan, C.S. 2018. Methods to study meiosis in insect spermatocytes. In Methods in Cell Biology vol 145 “Mitosis and Meiosis, Part B”. eds H Maiato and M Schuh, pp 249-267. Elsevier Inc. Book chapter.
- LaFountain, J.R., Jr., and Oldenbourg, R. 2014. Kinetochore-driven outgrowth of microtubules is a central contributor to kinetochore fiber maturation in crane-fly spermatocytes. Molecular Biology of the Cell 25: 1437-1445.
- LaFountain, J.R., Jr., Cohan, C.S. and Oldenbourg, R. 2011. Functional states of kinetochores revealed by laser microsurgery and fluorescent speckle microscopy. Molecular Biology of the Cell 22: 4801-4808
- LaFountain, J.R., Jr., Cohan, C.S. and Oldenbourg, R. 2012. Pac-man motility of kinetochores unleashed by laser microsurgery. Molecular Biology of the Cell 23: 3133-3142.