Research Interests

Our lab has a long-standing interest in the means by which the cytoskeleton controls cell division, wound healing, and endocytosis. We have developed several model systems that help simplify analysis of complex, cytoskeleton-dependent processes; these are described in our recent publications.

Teaching

Courses:

Zoology 570 - Cell Biology
Zoology 572 - Laboratory in Cell Biology
Zoology 960 - Seminar in Cell Biology
Anatomy 700 - Cytoskeletal Dynamics

Graduate students currently supervised:

Brian Burkel ( bmburkel@students.wisc.edu )
    Cellular mechanisms of wound healing

Emily Vaughan ( emvaughan@wisc.edu )

Postdocs currently supervised:

Ann Miller ( almiller1@wisc.edu )
    Regulation of cytokinesis

Sarah Woolner ( woolner@wisc.edu )

Selected Publications, 2001-Present

G = UW Graduate student
P = UW Postdoctoral researcher
U = UW Undergraduate

• C.A. Mandato^P and W.M. Bement. 2001. Contraction and polymerization cooperate to assemble and close actomyosin rings around Xenopus oocyte wounds. J. Cell Biol. 154:785-798

• K.L. Weber^G and W.M. Bement. Actin serves as a template for cytokeratin assembly in cell free extracts. 2002. J. Cell Sci.  115:1373-1382.

• O.C. Rodriguez, A.W. Schaefer, C.A. Mandato^P, P. Forscher, W.M. Bement and C.M. Waterman-Storer. 2003.  Conserved microtubule-actin interactions in cell movement and morphogenesis. Nature Cell Biol. 5:599-609.

• C.A. Mandato^P and W.M. Bement. 2003. Actomyosin transports microtubules and microtubules control actomyosin recruitment during oocyte wound healing. Curr. Biol. 13:1096-1105.

• A.M. Sokac^G, C. Co, J. Taunton, and W.M. Bement. 2003. Cdc42-dependent actin polymerization during compensatory endocytosis in Xenopus eggs. Nature Cell Biol. 5:727-732.

• K.L. Weber^G, A.M. SokacG, J. Berg, R.E. Cheney and W. M. Bement. 2004. A microtubule binding myosin required for nuclear anchoring and spindle assembly. Nature 431:325-329.

• H.A. Benink^G and W.M. Bement. 2005. Concentric rings of Cdc42 and RhoA activity around single cell wounds. 
  J. Cell Biol. 168:429-439.

• W.M. Bement, H.A. Benink^G and G. von Dassow. 2005. A microtubule-dependent zone of active RhoA during cleavage plane specification. J. Cell Biol. 170:91-101.

• A.L. Miller^P and W.M. Bement. 2005. An actin fishnet for chromosomes. Nature Cell Biol. 7:775-776.

• G. von Dassow and W.M. Bement. 2005. A ring-like template for abscission. Dev. Cell. 9:578-580.

• C. Ma, H.A. Benink^G, V. Montplaisir, L. Wang, Y. Xi, P.-P. Zheng, W.M. Bement and X.J. Liu. 2006. Cdc42 activation couples spindle positioning to the first polar body formation in oocyte maturation. Curr. Biol. 16:214-220.

• A.M. Sokac^G and W.M. Bement. 2006. Kiss-and-coat and compartment mixing:  coupling exocytosis to signal generation and local actin assembly.  Mol. Biol. Cell.  17:1495-1502.

• W.M. Bement, A.L. Miller^P and G. von Dassow. 2006. Rho GTPase activity zones and transient contractile arrays. Bioessays. 28:983-93.

• A.M. Sokac^G, C. Schietroma, C. Gundersen and W.M. Bement. 2006. Myosin-1c links assembling actin to membranes to drive compensatory endocytosis. Dev. Cell. 11:629-40.

• H.E.Yu^G and W.M. Bement.  2007. Control of local assembly by membrane fusion-dependent compartment mixing.  In press, Nature Cell Biol.

• W.M. Bement, H.E. Yu^G, B.M. Burkel^G, E.M. Vaughan^G, and A.G. Clark^U.  2007. Rehabilitation and the single cell. In press, Curr. Opin. Cell Biol.