Andrea Musacchio

Prof. Andrea Musacchio is Director of the Mechanistic Cell Biology Department at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology. His research investigates molecular mechanisms of cell division, focusing on kinetochore assembly, spindle checkpoint signaling, and chromosome segregation using biochemical reconstitution, structural biology, and cellular analyses. Awarded the Leibniz Prize (2020), he has pioneered structural insights into mitotic regulation.

Research explores kinetochore-microtubule interactions, checkpoint complex assembly, phase separation in cellular organization, and structural mechanisms of chromosome segregation. Recent work examines PLK1 kinase in centromere maintenance and conformational regulation of motor protein recruitment.

Honors include the Vallee Visiting Professorship and Leibniz Prize for contributions to understanding cell division machinery. Publications consistently integrate structural biology with functional analyses of mitotic components.