Iva Tolić Explained

Iva Tolić
Birth Date: 24 June 1974
Birth Place:Zagreb, Croatia
Nationality:Croatian
Occupation:Scientist/Academic
Spouse:Nenad Brgić (married 2014)
Children:2
Discipline: Biology
Sub Discipline: Biophysics
Education:PhD
Alma Mater: University of Zagreb, Croatia
Thesis Year:2002
Workplaces: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Dresden, Germany)
Ruđer Bošković Institute
(Zagreb, Croatia)
Awards: Lieben Prize (2017)
EBSA Young Investigators' Medal and Prize (2015)
Cell '40 under 40' (2014)

Iva Marija Tolić (born 24 June 1974) is a Croatian biophysicist, known for her work on the microtubule cytoskeleton and associated motor proteins. She is currently senior research group leader and professor of biology at the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb, Croatia.[1]

Education

Tolić completed her diploma in molecular biology from the University of Zagreb, Croatia in 1996 and her graduate studies in molecular biology in the group of Nenad Trinajstić, Ruđer Bošković Institute and University of Zagreb, Croatia in 1999. Between 1999 and 2001, she completed part of her PhD work with Ning Wang, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, United States and was awarded her doctorate in biology in 2002 by the University of Zagreb, Croatia.[1]

Career

Upon obtaining her doctorate, Tolić did her first postdoctoral training between 2001 and 2002 at the Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, working with Lene Oddershede and Kirstine Berg-Sorensen on the microrheology of cells. She then joined the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, Florence, Italy for postdoctoral research with Prof. Francesco Pavone, working on lymphocyte movement and laser microsurgery on the mitotic spindle. Following her postdoctoral training, Tolić was appointed as research group leader (W1, equivalent to assistant professor) at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany in 2005 and was promoted to senior research group leader (W2, equivalent to associate professor) in 2010. In 2014, she moved to the Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia, being appointed as senior research group leader and professor of biology.[2]

Research

As independent investigator, Tolić has carried out pioneering research in the field of cell biology pertaining to the microtubule cytoskeleton and associated motor proteins, discovering: (i) a novel mechanism of kinetochore capture during mitosis by pivoting of astral microtubules around the spindle pole,[3] (ii) a mechanism of regulation of the motor protein cytoplasmic dynein by attachment to its anchor protein in fission yeast[4] and most recently, (iii) 'Bridging fibers' that are non-kinetochore microtubules connecting sister k-fibers and thereby balancing forces in the spindle.[5]

In addition, her research has demonstrated that fission yeast does not undergo replicative aging, contrary to existing theories on aging.[6] [7]

Personal life

Tolić's parents are the journalist and diplomat and academic Dubravka Oraić Tolić. She married Nenad Brgić in 2014 and she is the mother of two children. She has stated publicly that she sees no conflict between religion and science, and describes herself as a believer.

Awards and achievements

Membership in professional associations and societies

Tolić is a member of European Molecular Biology Organization, the Croatian Biophysical Society, the Croatian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Croatian Microscopy Society. In addition, she is Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the journal Science.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Iva Tolić / People / Ruđer Bošković Institute. RBI. www.irb.hr.
  2. Web site: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics: Research groups – Iva Tolic – group leader . 2016-07-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160819233852/http://extweb-srv5.mpi-cbg.de/research/research-groups/iva-tolic-norrelykke/group-leader.html . 2016-08-19 . dead .
  3. Kalinina. Iana. Nandi. Amitabha. Delivani. Petrina. Chacón. Mariola R.. Klemm. Anna H.. Ramunno-Johnson. Damien. Krull. Alexander. Lindner. Benjamin. Pavin. Nenad. Tolić-Nørrelykke. Iva M.. Pivoting of microtubules around the spindle pole accelerates kinetochore capture. Nature Cell Biology. 15. 1. 2012. 82–87. 1465-7392. 10.1038/ncb2640. 23222841. 22450862.
  4. Ananthanarayanan. Vaishnavi. Schattat. Martin. Vogel. Sven K.. Krull. Alexander. Pavin. Nenad. Tolić-Nørrelykke. Iva M.. Dynein Motion Switches from Diffusive to Directed upon Cortical Anchoring. Cell. 153. 7. 2013. 1526–1536. 0092-8674. 10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.020. 23791180. free.
  5. Kajtez. Janko. Solomatina. Anastasia. Novak. Maja. Polak. Bruno. Vukušić. Kruno. Rüdiger. Jonas. Cojoc. Gheorghe. Milas. Ana. Šumanovac Šestak. Ivana. Risteski. Patrik. Tavano. Federica. Klemm. Anna H.. Roscioli. Emanuele. Welburn. Julie. Cimini. Daniela. Glunčić. Matko. Pavin. Nenad. Tolić. Iva M.. Overlap microtubules link sister k-fibres and balance the forces on bi-oriented kinetochores. Nature Communications. 7. 2016. 10298. 2041-1723. 10.1038/ncomms10298. 26728792. 4728446. 2016NatCo...710298K.
  6. Coelho. Miguel. Dereli. Aygül. Haese. Anett. Kühn. Sebastian. Malinovska. Liliana. DeSantis. Morgan E.. Shorter. James. Alberti. Simon. Gross. Thilo. Tolić-Nørrelykke. Iva M.. Fission Yeast Does Not Age under Favorable Conditions, but Does So after Stress. Current Biology. 23. 19. 2013. 1844–1852. 0960-9822. 10.1016/j.cub.2013.07.084. 24035542. 4620659.
  7. Coelho. Miguel. Lade. Steven J.. Alberti. Simon. Gross. Thilo. Tolić. Iva M.. Fusion of Protein Aggregates Facilitates Asymmetric Damage Segregation. PLOS Biology. 12. 6. 2014. e1001886. 1545-7885. 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001886. 24936793. 4061010 . free .
  8. Web site: Finalists – Croatian Women's Network . 2016-07-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160815091337/http://croatianwomensnetwork.org/finalists/ . 2016-08-15 . dead .
  9. Web site: Prizes and medals awarded by EBSA – European Biophysical Societies' Association. ebsa.org.
  10. Web site: 5000th grantee | ERC: European Research Council . 2016-07-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160816233941/https://erc.europa.eu/erc5000/grantee . 2016-08-16 . dead .
  11. Web site: Investigator of the Year. mpi-cbg.de.
  12. Web site: Iva Tolic-Norrelykke: Cell Press. www.cell.com.