UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry : UCLA Portal

Website:

Margot Quinlan's Home Page.

Email Address:

margot@chem.ucla.edu

Work Email Address:

margot@chem.ucla.edu

Laboratory Address:

Paul Boyer Hall 510

Work Address:

Paul Boyer Hall 502

Lab Number:

1 (310) 206-7596

Work Phone Number:

1 (310) 206-8064

Assistant Professor
Biochemistry

Member
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (BMB) Graduate Program

A Short Biography:

Dr. Quinlan obtained her B.A. at Reed College in 1991. She then spent two years in Germany doing research at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg. She went to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania where she worked with Yale Goldman and received her Ph.D. in 2002. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF with Dyche Mullins until 2008 when she joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA.

Dr. Quinlan accepts graduate students through the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) Graduate Program and the UCLA ACCESS Ph.D. Program.

Awards and Honors:

Alexander and Renee Kolin Endowed Professorship of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, 2008 ; Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences, Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, 2006-2011 ; Postdoctoral Fellowship, American Heart Association, Declined, 2006 ; Postdoctoral Fellowship, American Cancer Society, Honorable Mention, 2004 ; Predoctoral Fellow in Biological Sciences, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 1994-1999 ; Predoctoral Fellowship, National Science Foundation, Honorable Mention, 1994 ; Summer Fellow, American Heart Association, 1991 ; Commended for Excellence in Scholarship, Reed College, 1991 ; Lifetime member, California Scholarship Federation, 1986.

Research Interest:

We are using biochemistry, microscopy and genetic approaches to study dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton. We are currently focusing on Spire and Cappuccino, two proteins that collaborate to build an actin network essential for early body axis development in Drosophila. Combining an in vitro understanding of the mechanism of Spir and Capu with in vivo studies of oogenesis will provide insight into how the actin cytoskeleton is regulated and a broader understanding of cell polarity. In the Quinlan lab we are addressing four questions:

Molecular Mechanism: How do Spir and Capu collaborate?
Cell Biology: What role does the Spir-Capu complex play in Drosophila oogenesis?
Regulation: How is the Spir-Capu complex regulated?
Mammalian Disease: Is the Spir-Capu complex a polarity factor in other cell types?

Publications:

Quinlan Margot E, Kerkhoff Eugen Actin nucleation: bacteria get in-Spired. Nat. Cell Biol., 2008; 10(1): 13-5.

Quinlan Margot E, Hilgert Susanne, Bedrossian Anaid, Mullins R Dyche, Kerkhoff Eugen Regulatory interactions between two actin nucleators, Spire and Cappuccino. J. Cell Biol., 2007; 179(1): 117-28.

Forkey Joseph N, Quinlan Margot E, Goldman Yale E Measurement of single macromolecule orientation by total internal reflection fluorescence polarization microscopy. Biophys. J., 2005; 89(2): 1261-71.

Quinlan Margot E, Forkey Joseph N, Goldman Yale E Orientation of the myosin light chain region by single molecule total internal reflection fluorescence polarization microscopy. Biophys. J., 2005; 89(2): 1132-42.

Rosenberg Stephanie A, Quinlan Margot E, Forkey Joseph N, Goldman Yale E Rotational motions of macro-molecules by single-molecule fluorescence microscopy. Accounts of chemical research, 2005; 38(7): 583-93.

Quinlan Margot E, Heuser John E, Kerkhoff Eugen, Mullins R Dyche Drosophila Spire is an actin nucleation factor. Nature, 2005; 433(7024): 382-8.

Forkey Joseph N, Quinlan Margot E, Shaw M Alexander, Corrie John E T, Goldman Yale E Three-dimensional structural dynamics of myosin V by single-molecule fluorescence polarization. Nature, 2003; 422(6930): 399-404.

Quinlan M E, Forkey J N, Goldman Y E Kinesin-ADP: whole lotta shakin' goin' on. Nature structural biology, 2001; 8(6): 478-80.

Forkey J N, Quinlan M E, Goldman Y E Protein structural dynamics by single-molecule fluorescence polarization. Progress in biophysics and molecular biology, 2000; 74(1-2): 1-35.