Cell scientist to watch – Kevin Corbett

Kevin Corbett graduated in biology and biochemistry from the University of Virginia. He then went to the University of California, Berkeley, to work on the structure and function of DNA topoisomerases in bacteria and archaea for his PhD with James Berger. In 2005, he moved to the laboratory of Stephen Harrison at Harvard Medical School for his postdoctoral work on kinetochore structure and function, particularly the yeast monopolin complex, which promotes proper chromosome segregation in the first meiotic division. Kevin started his own research group at UC San Diego and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in 2011. He received a Sidney Kimmel Scholar Award in 2012. His current research interests include the molecular mechanisms of homologous chromosome pairing in meiosis I, spindle assembly checkpoint regulation in mitosis and meiosis, and how misregulation of meiotic genes can contribute to carcinogenesis.