J. Richard McIntosh

J. Richard McIntosh is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder. McIntosh first graduated from Harvard with a BA in Physics in 1961, and again with a Ph.D. in Biophysics in 1968. At the University of Colorado Boulder, McIntosh taught biology courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Additionally, he created an undergraduate course in the biology of cancer towards the last several years of his teaching career. McIntosh's research career looks at a variety of things, including different parts of mitosis, microtubules, and motor proteins.

Research interests alt=This diagram shows the different steps the cell goes through when it is undergoing cell division.

Mitosis Most of McIntosh's work focuses on the process of mitosis in the cell. Mitosis is the process of cell division that includes distinct movements of chromosomes in the cell and formation of mitotic spindles. Additionally, McIntosh is very interested in the role of microtubules and motor proteins in this process. Mitotic spindles, composed of microtubules and other proteins, ensure that each of the two new cells during cell division both get one copy of every chromosome. After the chromosomes are separated, then the cells are able to completely separate as well through cytokinesis. This technology is best suited to observe extremely complex structures and can image thinner sections of samples than can be physically made to study. In this work, his team described the axostyle, a collection of microtubules, and presented that the axostyle's attachment to other parts of the cell controls its function. The polarity of microtubules is essential to generate the force needed to separate the chromosomes during mitosis, but at the time it was difficult to determine what the polarity is. To study the movements in tubulin in cells during mitosis and interphase, McIntosh used two imaging methods: labeled (dichlorotriazinyl-aminofluorescein or DTAF-) tubulin and fluorescence redistribution (or recovery) after photobleaching (or FRAP). Here, McIntosh explored the possibility of kinesin as an important part of mitosis, as it can be found in the mitotic spindle. Dynein, a protein first found in the flagella, had now been discovered in the cytoplasm as well. In this article, his team shared the development of the computer software called IMOD. Two of the Golgi apparatus's main functions are to modify proteins and to target them to their next destination. This review paper explains how spindle microtubules bind to chromosomes during segregation at places called kinetochores and the description of the Kinetochore-Dependent Checkpoint. In this work, these scientists helped create a naming structure for kinesin proteins, that are involved in transport in the cell along with microtubules. The researchers attached glass microbeads to tubulin. Axonemes are structures in cilia and flagella consisting of a specific pattern of microtubules. In those who study how chromosomes move during the process of mitosis, researchers argue either that microtubules generate the forces needed to separate them or that certain motor proteins do. It was observed overall that microtubule depolymerization and the movement of motor proteins are very fast, but the chromosomes move slowly during their separation in the anaphase A stage of mitosis. The researchers noticed as the microtubules grow, they bend out from the axis, similar to how the microtubules bend off when they are depolymerizing as well. One important structure in this phase is kinetochore microtubules or referred to as KMTs. This work, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the creation of the American Society for Cell Biology (founded in 1960) includes 42 major papers in the field of cell biology along with the editor's own thoughts. In this work, McIntosh connects various findings about mitosis from a variety of organisms. In 2000, McIntosh was award with the Distinguished Professor title at the University of Colorado, Boulder. After he retired in 2006, McIntosh continues to conduct research and publish books and articles.