ii. Purpose and aims:
Cancer, primary microcephaly and primordial dwarfisms – these are examples of diseases so different and yet sharing some similarities – the common link between those are abnormalities in the number of centrioles - barrel shaped organelles important for cell division and cell to cell communication. However, it is currently not clear how exactly does abnormal centriole number contribute to development of the above mentioned diseases – why in some situations the abnormal centriole number seems to contribute to cancer progression (associated with increased proliferation and/or growth) and in other cases to microcephaly or even dwarfism (both associated with decreased proliferation and/or growth). Our overall aim is to develop a cell based model system that will allow us to study potentially contradictory effects and consequences of centriole abnormalities in different situations. We plan to take advantage of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to achieve this goal.