Systems Biology of Mitosis

Mitosis can be thought of as a finely regulated and exceedingly complex process. During the process of cell division, a cell's chromosomes are eventually distributed between two daughter nuclei. Molecular biologists typically characterize the activity, aggregation and interactions of tens of cellular elements involved in mitosis, although the relation between such interacting elements and their respective environment remains still elusive. Predictions, therefore, are not straightforward. There is a need for a system-level understating of the regulatory mechanisms involved in mitosis. This might be of major relevance for medical research, as well as for a better understating of other cellular processes. We shall refer to our work as to ``Systems Biology of Mitosis''. Our focus is on human cells, and we benefit from modeling and simulation approaches embedded in a cross-disciplinary framework, in order to contribute to a deeper understanding of mitotic regulatory mechanisms.