The Canman lab works to understand the molecular mechanisms of cytokinesis, the physical division of one cell into two that occurs at the end of the cell cycle.  Research in the Canman lab probes the spatiotemporal molecular regulation of cytokinesis and identifies both universal and cell specific mechanisms that promote robust cell division using the model system Caenorhabditis elegans.  The lab also devotes a substantial effort to the development and implementation of new microscopy-based technologies to spatially and temporally control protein function and enable previously impossible studies on cell division in worms and other model systems.