Our Research

Welcome to the Biggins Lab. Our goal is to understand the mechanisms that ensure accurate chromosome segregation and thus maintain genomic stability and prevent human disease. Sue Biggins, our Principal Investigator, is the Director of the Basic Sciences Division at Fred Hutch and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

We aim to understand how cells get the right chromosomes. Aneuploidy is the condition where cells contain the wrong number of chromosomes and it is the most common chromosomal abnormality in cancers and the cause of birth defects and other diseases. We therefore study the underlying mechanisms that regulate cell division and chromosome segregation to ensure accurate self-renewal, proliferation and development. We take an interdisciplinary approach that combines biochemical, biophysical, cell biological, genetic and structural approaches using yeast and human cells as model systems.