Researcher

Title

• Full Professor, Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Université de Montréal (2022)
• Researcher, Centre de recherche Azrieli du CHU Sainte-Justine (2009)

• Postdoctoral Fellow in Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, 2002-2009.
• PhD in Cell Biology, University of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, 1998-2001.
• BSc (Hons) in Biology and French, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, 1993-1998.

Cells need to divide frequently to replace dead cells, and for the growth and repair of tissues. However, cell division must be tightly controlled and error-free, because errors can cause cancer. Cancers are also characterized by uncontrolled, and often error-prone, division. It is of fundamental importance to understand precisely how cells divide, which can also be slightly different for different cell types. A better understanding of the mechanisms of cell division will help us better understand how cancers arise, but also could provide new targets for the development of more specific anti-cancer drugs. We study the mechanisms of cytokinesis, which is the final stage of cell division where one cell splits into two. This process occurs through a complex series of events coordinated by tens of different types of proteins that cause a dramatic reorganization of the cell’s membrane. We use genetic tools and high-resolution microscopy to understand how some of the essential, core proteins collaborate to ensure the success of cytokinesis.

• Cytokinesis (division of one cell into two)
• Mitosis (division of the cell nucleus)
• Coordination of actin/myosin and septin cytoskeletons
• Cytoskeleton-membrane interactions
• Intracellular membrane trafficking

Career Summary

I studied undergraduate biology at the University of Manchester, UK, which included an ERASMUS exchange year as a research intern in lab in Toulouse, France. This stimulated an interest in cell signaling and intracellular membrane trafficking and led me to undertake a PhD with Gwyn Gould at the University of Glasgow. There I discovered Arfophilin-2/Rab11-FIP4 as a potential novel regulator of cell division. I wished to learn how to exploit genetics to understand cell biology, so I undertook a postdoc with Pat O’Farrell at UCSF, studying mitosis and cytokinesis using the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster. There, we performed a pioneering RNAi screen to define all the genes required for cytokinesis. Since, launching my independent laboratory in Montréal, I have continued to leverage RNAi as a powerful pseudo-genetic approach, coupled with high-resolution microscopy, to dissect the molecular inner workings of the cytokinesis machinery. Cytokinesis remains poorly understood yet of fundamental importance to health and disease.

Awards and Distinctions

• Senior 2 Research Scholar, Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec, 2017-2021
• Junior 2 Research Scholar, Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec, 2014-2017
• Finalist for the 2014 Maud Menten New Principal Investigator Prize from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Institute of Genetics (CIHR-IG) in the biomedical research category
• Transition Grant, Cole Foundation, 2013-2014.
• Junior 1 Research Scholar, Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec, 2010-2013.
• Special Fellow, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, 2007-2010.
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, 2004-2007.

Presentations

• CellBio23 (ASCB/EMBO Annual Meeting 2023), Special Interest Subgroup session on the Midbody.  "Coordination of distinct Anillin-dependent cytoskeletal elements during the contractile ring-to-midbody ring transition of cytokinesis", Boston, USA, le 8 décembre 2023.
• Retraite Scientifique de l'IRIC, Granby, Québec. Coordination of cytoskeletal sub-networks during cytokinesis (25 nov. 2022)
• ASCB/EMBO Annual Meeting, Special Interest Subgroup session on the Midbody.  "From the contractile ring to the midbody ring: a maturation process", San Diego, USA, le 8 décembre 2018.
• Séminaire sur la Cytokinèse. Invité par la Fondation Les Treilles, Provence, France. Conférencier parmi 20 leaders du domaine (2-7 avril 2018).

Publications

1. Carim, S. and Hickson, GRX. (2023) The Rho-1 GTPase controls anillo-septin assembly to facilitate contractile ring closure during cytokinesis. iScience 26: 106903
2. Hickson, GRX. (2022) A back-up source of microtubules for the midbody during cytokinesis. J. Cell Biol. 221:(3) e202201028
3. Carim, S.*, Kechad, A.* & Hickson, GRX. (2020) Hypothesis and Theory: The Rho-dependent actomyosin-anilloseptin contractile ring as a membrane microdomain gathering, compressing and sorting machine. Front Cell Dev Biol 8:575226. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.575226.
4. El-Amine, N.*, Carim, S.*, Wernike, D*. & Hickson, GRX. (2019) Rho-dependent control of the Citron kinase, Sticky, drives midbody ring maturation. Mol. Biol. Cell 30(17): 2185-2204. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E19-04-0194
5. Jananji, S., Risi, C., Lindamulage, I.K., Picard, L-P, Van Sciver, R., Laflamme, G., Albaghjati, A., Hickson, G.R*, Kwok., B. H.*, and Galkin, V.E.* (2017) Multimodal and polymorphic interactions between anillin and actin: their implications for cytokinesis. J. Mol. Biol. 429(5):715-731. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2017.01.020
6. Rodrigues, N.T., Lekomtsev, S., Jananji, S., Kriston-Vizi, J., Hickson, G.R., Baum, B. (2015) Kinetochore-localized PP1/Sds22 induces anaphase polar relaxation to couple chromosome segregation to cytokinesis. Nature, 524(7566):489-92
7. El Amine, N, Kechad, A$, Jananji, S. and Hickson, G.R. (2013).  Opposing actions of septins and Sticky on Anillin promote the transition from contractile to midbody ring. J. Cell Biol. 203(3):487-504
8. Kechad, A$, Jananji, S., Ruella, Y. and Hickson, G.R. (2012). Anillin acts as a bifunctional linker coordinating midbody ring biogenesis during cytokinesis. Curr. Biol. 22: 197-203
9. Hickson, G. R.* and O’Farrell, P. H. (2008). Rho-dependent control of Anillin behavior during cytokinesis. J. Cell Biol. 180: 285-294
10. Echard, A*, Hickson, G. R.*, Foley, E. and O’Farrell, P. H. (2004).  Terminal cytokinesis events uncovered after an RNAi screen. Curr. Biol. 14: 1685-1693