Alisa Piekny, PhD

Education

PhD (University of Calgary)
Post-Doc (IMP, Vienna, Austria; and University of Chicago)

Research interests

The aim of my research is to gain a stronger understanding of how the cytoskeleton is regulated during cell division, migration and polarity. I am interested in how microtubules and actomyosin control these events during cell division, and how they are hi-jacked in cancer cells. This includes an in depth molecular analysis of anillin, a highly conserved protein that is required for cytokinesis and crosslinks key components of the cell. I use cultured human cells including cancer cell lines and iPSCs as model systems. I also collaborate with other groups to develop delivery and diagnostic tools for cancer cells, and to develop anti-cancer drugs.

Funding

NSERC, FRQ-NT

Funding agency - committee service

NSERC - Group Leader, 1501
CIHR - University Delegate

Recent Publications (since 2018)

Clermont-Paquette, A., Larocque, K., Piekny, A. and R. Naccache. (2024). Shining a light on cells: amine-passivated fluorescent carbon dots as bio imaging nanoprobes. Materials Advances doi: 10.1039/DSMA007.

Husser, M.C., Pham, N.P., Law, C., Araujo, F.R.B., Martin, V.J.J. and A. Piekny. (2024). Endogenous tagging using split mNeonGreen in human iPSCs for live imaging studies. eLife. eLife92819.2.

Adedapo, A., Clermont-Paquette, A., Piekny, A. and R. Naccache. (2023). Advances in the design and use of carbon dots for analytical and biomedical applications. Nanotechnology 35: 012001.

Clermont-Paquette, A., Mendoza, D.A., Sadeghi, A., Piekny, A. and R. Naccache. (2023). Ratiometric sensing of glyphosate in water using dual fluorescent carbon dots. Sensors 23: doi: 10.3390/s23115200.

Ozugergin, I. and A. Piekny (2022) Diversity is the spice of life: an overview of how cytokinesis regulation varies with cell type. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology 10: doi: 10.3389/fcell2022.1007614.

Husser, M.C., Ozugergin, I., Law, C., Resta, T., Martin, V.J.J. and A. Piekny (2022) Cytokinetic diversity in mammalian cells is revealed by characterization o endogenous anillin, Ect2 and RhoA. Open Biology 12: doi: 10.1098/rsob. 220247.

Zaroubi, L., Ozugergin, I., Mastronardi, K., Imfeld, A., Gelinas, Y., Piekny, A. and B. Findlay (2022) The ubiquitous terpene geosmin is a warning chemical. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 88: e0009322.

Ozugergin, I., Mastronardi, K., Law, C. and A. Piekny (2022) Diverse mechanisms regulate contractile ring assembly for cytokinesis in the two-cell Caenorhabditis elegans embryo. Journal of Cell Science 135: 1-16.

Kashani, A.S., Larocque, K., Piekny, A. and M. Packirisamy (2022) Gold nano-bio-interaction to modulate mechanobiological responses for cancer therapy applications. ACS Applied Bio Materials 5: 3741-3752.

Jaunky, D.B., Larocque, K., Husser, M.C., Liu, J.T., Forgione, P. and A. Piekny (2021) Characterization of a recently synthesized microtubule-targeting compound that disrupts mitotic spindle poles in human cells. Scientific Reports 11: 1-18.

Husser, M.C., Skaik, N., Martin, V.J.J. and A. Piekny (2021) CRISPR-Cas9 tools to study gene function in cytokinesis. Journal of Cell Science 134: 1-12.

Koh, S., Pham, N.P. and A. Piekny (2021) Seeing is believing: tools to study the role of GTPases during cytokinesis. Small GTPases 18: 1-14.

Liu, J.T., Larocque, K., Jaunky, D.B., Chen, F., Sirouspour, M., Mckibbon, K., Taylor, S., Shafeii, A., Campbell, D., Braga, H., Piekny, A. and P. Forgione (2021) Design, structure-activity relationship study and biological evaluation of thin[3,2-c]isoquinoline scaffold as a potential anti-cancer agent. Bioorganics and Medicinal Chemistry Letters 52: 1-19.

Ozugergin, I. and A. Piekny (2021) Complementary functions for the Ran gradient during division. Small GTPases 12: 177-187.

Grimbert, S., Mastronardi, K., Richard, V., Christensen, R., Law, C., Zardoui, K., Fay, D. and A. Piekny (2021) Multi-tissue patterning drives anterior morphogenesis of the C. elegans embryo. Developmental Biology 471: 49-64.

A. Piekny (2020) Anillin controls the Rho zone. Bioessays. 42: e2000193.

Kashani, A.S., Piekny, A. and M. Packirisamy (2020). Using intracellular plasmonics to characterize nano-morphology in human cells. Microsystems and Nanoengineering. 6: 1-14.

Kashani, A.S., Badilescu, S., Piekny, A. and M. Packirisamy (2020) Differing affinities of gold nanostars and nanospheres toward HeLa and HepG2 cells: implications for cancer therapy. ACS Applied Nano Materials. 3: 4114-4126.

Beaudet, D., Pham, N., Skaik, N. and A. Piekny (2020) Importin binding mediates the intramolecular regulation of anillin during cytokinesis. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 31: 1124-1139.

Macairan, J., Jaunky, D.B., Piekny, A. and R. Naccache (2019) Intracellular ratiometric temperature sensing using fluorescent carbon dots. Nanoscale Advances 1: 105-113.

Kashani, A.S., Badilescu, S., Piekny, A. and M. Packirisamy (2019) Perspective - Bio-nanointeraction in treatment and management of cancer. Journal of the Electrochemical Society. 166: B3007-B3011.

Hong, S.H., Larocque, K., Jaunky, D.B., Piekny, A. and J. Oh (2018) Dual disassembly and biological evaluation of enzyme/oxidation-responsive polyester-based nanoparticulates for tumor-targeted delivery. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 172: 608-617.

Kashani, A.S., Kuruvinashetti, K., Beaudet, D., Badilescu, S., Piekny, A. and M. Packirisamy (2018) Enhanced internalization of Indian Ayurvedic Swarna Bhasma (gold nanopowder) for effective interaction with human cells. Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. 18: 6791-6798.

Kuruvinashetti, K., Kashani, A.S., Badilescu, S., Beaudet, D., Piekny, A. and M. Packirisamy (2018) Intracellular localized surface plasmonic sensing for subcellular diagnosis. Plasmonics. 13: 1639-1648.