Rate My Professor Mohan Balasubramanian

Professor Mohan Balasubramanian is a Professor in Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick, where he leads the Balasubramanian laboratory focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms regulating eukaryotic cytokinesis. The laboratory investigates the assembly, organization, and contraction of the actomyosin-based contractile ring using fission yeasts Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Schizosaccharomyces japonicus as model organisms. Employing approaches such as genetics, biochemistry, high-throughput drug screening, and high-resolution imaging including electron cryotomography, the group has identified mutants defective in various stages of cytokinesis and key gene products including actin, myosin II, profilin, and tropomyosin. They have developed methods to isolate contractile rings capable of contracting in vitro upon ATP addition and are working on reconstituting ring assembly in permeabilized protoplasts and cells through protein purification and genetic code expansion for site-specific modifications.

Mohan Balasubramanian graduated in chemistry from Madras University in India and pursued a postgraduate program in microbiology and biotechnology in Baroda, India. He conducted doctoral research at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, on cell division in fission yeast, followed by postdoctoral studies at Vanderbilt University, USA, also on cell division. In 1997, he joined the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology in Singapore, and in 2002, the Temasek LifeSciences Laboratory. He joined Warwick Medical School in 2013. Key publications from his laboratory include 'Phospho-regulation of tropomyosin is crucial for actin cable turnover and division site placement' (Journal of Cell Biology, 2019), 'Actin turnover ensures uniform tension distribution during cytokinesis' (2019), 'Curvature induced expulsion of actomyosin bundles during cytokinesis in fission yeast' (eLife, 2016), 'Motor activity dependent and independent functions for Myosin II in Cytokinesis' (Current Biology, 2017), and 'In Vitro Contraction of Cytokinetic Ring Depends on Myosin II but not on Actin Dynamics' (Nature Cell Biology, 2013). Balasubramanian also serves as Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) for the Americas and is a member of the University's International Committee.