Pablo A. Lara Gonzalez
Assistant Professor, University of California Irvine
Biography
Pablo A. Lara-Gonzalez, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology at the University of California, Irvine. He received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the University of Manchester in 2012 and completed postdoctoral training at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in San Diego from 2013 to 2020, where he subsequently served as a Research Scientist until 2022. His research focuses on cell cycle regulation and the mechanisms controlling cell division timing during embryonic development and in cancer.
Lara-Gonzalez is the recipient of an NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) for 2023-2028 to study developmental regulation of the cell cycle machinery. He was awarded a Pew Latin American Fellowship from 2014 to 2016, which is given annually to ten Latin American postdoctoral researchers working in the United States. His work has been published in journals including Science, Developmental Cell, Journal of Cell Biology, and Current Biology, with particular contributions to understanding spindle assembly checkpoint mechanisms and the regulation of APC/C-dependent protein degradation during mitosis.
Lara-Gonzalez has mentored numerous undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows throughout his career. He serves on the Early Career Advisory Board at The Journal of Cell Biology and as an ad hoc reviewer for the Cellular Signaling and Regulatory Systems Study Section at the National Institutes of Health. He is a member of the American Society for Cell Biology and the Genetics Society of America, and holds affiliations with the UCI Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UCI Cancer Research Institute, and the Stem Cell Research Center at UCI.
Return to topEducation
- PhD in Cell Biology, University of Manchester, 2012
- BSc in Biochemistry, Universidad de Concepcion, 2007
Distinctions
- Pew Latin American Fellowship, 2014
- NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) (R35), 2023
- Presidente de la Republica Scholarship, 2008
- CONICYT PhD Scholarship, 2008
- UCI Society of Hellman Fellows fellowship, 2024
- Universidad de Concepcion Award, 2008
Areas of Expertise
- Cell Division Mechanisms
- Spindle Assembly Checkpoint
- Kinetochore Protein Dynamics
- Anaphase Promoting Complex Regulation
- Mechanistic Cell Biology
- Mitotic Timing Control
- Chromosome Segregation and Aneuploidy
- C. elegans
- Early embryogenesis
- Mitosis and Cancer
Recent Publications
- Moghareh S., Bojorquez D., Lara-Gonzalez P., “CKS-1 and the choreography of meiotic chromosome segregation” (opens in new tab), Journal of Cell Biology, vol. 225, 2026.
- Houston J., Vissotsky C., Deep A., Hakozaki H., Crews E., Oegema K., Corbett K.D., Lara-Gonzalez P., Kim T., Desai A., “Phospho-KNL-1 recognition by a TPR domain targets the BUB-1-BUB-3 complex to C. elegans kinetochores” (opens in new tab), Journal of Cell Biology, vol. 223, pp. e202402036, 2024.
- Lara-Gonzalez P., Variyar S., Moghareh S., Nguyen A.C.N., Kizhedathu A., Budrewicz J., Schlientz A., Varshney N., Bellaart A., Oegema K., Bardwell L., Desai A., “Cyclin B3 is a dominant fast-acting cyclin that drives rapid early embryonic mitoses” (opens in new tab), Journal of Cell Biology, vol. 223, pp. e202308034, 2024.
- Rocha H., Simões P.A., Budrewicz J., Lara-Gonzalez P., Carvalho A.X., Dumont J., Desai A., Gassmann R., “Nuclear-enriched protein phosphatase 4 ensures outer kinetochore assembly prior to nuclear dissolution” (opens in new tab), Journal of Cell Biology, vol. 222, pp. e202208154, 2023.
- Wang L., Heffner C., Vong K.I., Barrows C., Ha Y.J., Lee S., Lara-Gonzalez P., Jhamb I., Van Der Meer D., Loughnan R., Parker N., Sievert D., Mittal S., Issa M.Y., Andreassen O.A., Dale A., Dobyns W.B., Zaki M.S., Murray S.A., Gleeson J.G., “TMEM161B modulates radial glial scaffolding in neocortical development” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 120, pp. e2209983120, 2023.
- Houston J., Ohta M., Gomez-Cavazos J.S., Deep A., Corbett K.D., Oegema K., Lara-Gonzalez P., Kim T., Desai A., “BUB-1-bound PLK-1 directs CDC-20 kinetochore recruitment to ensure timely embryonic mitoses” (opens in new tab), Current Biology, vol. 33, pp. 2291-2299.e10, 2023.
- Ferguson C.J., Urso O., Bodrug T., Gassaway B.M., Watson E.R., Prabu J.R., Lara-Gonzalez P., Martinez-Chacin R.C., Wu D.Y., Brigatti K.W., Puffenberger E.G., Taylor C.M., Haas-Givler B., Jinks R.N., Strauss K.A., Desai A., Gabel H.W., Gygi S.P., Schulman B.A., Brown N.G., et al., “APC7 mediates ubiquitin signaling in constitutive heterochromatin in the developing mammalian brain” (opens in new tab), Molecular Cell, vol. 82, pp. 90-105, 2022.
- Kawashima A.T., Wong C., Lorden G., King C.C., Lara-Gonzalez P., Desai A., Gingras A.-C., Newton A.C., “The PHLPP1 N-Terminal Extension is a Mitotic Cdk1 Substrate and Controls an Interactome Switch” (opens in new tab), Molecular and Cellular Biology, vol. 41, pp. e00333-20, 2021.
- Lara-Gonzalez P., Kim T., Oegema K., Corbett K., Desai A., “A tripartite mechanism catalyses Mad2-Cdc20 assembly at unattached kinetochores” (opens in new tab), Science, vol. 371, pp. 64-67, 2021.
- de Groot C., Houston J., Davis B., Gerson-Gurwitz A., Monen J., Lara-Gonzalez P., Oegema K., Shiau A.K., Desai A., “The N-terminal Tail of C. elegans CENP-A Interacts with KNL-2 and is Essential for Centromeric Chromatin Assembly” (opens in new tab), Molecular Biology of the Cell, vol. 32, pp. 1193-1201, 2021.
- Lara-Gonzalez P., Pines J., Desai A., “Spindle assembly checkpoint activation and silencing at kinetochores” (opens in new tab), Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology, vol. 117, pp. 86-98, 2021.
- Gomez-Cavazos J.S., Lee K.Y., Lara-Gonzalez P., Li Y., Desai A., Shiau, A.K., Oegema K., “A non-canonical BRCT-phosphopeptide recognition mechanism underlies RhoA activation in cytokinesis” (opens in new tab), Current Biology, vol. 30, pp. 3101-315, 2020.
- Houston J., Lara-Gonzalez P., Desai A., “Rashomon at the kinetochore: function(s) of the Mad1-cyclin B1 complex” (opens in new tab), Journal of Cell Biology, vol. 219, pp. e202006006, 2020.
- Bel Borja L., Soubigou F., Taylor S.J., Fraguas Bringas C., Budrewicz J., Lara-Gonzalez P., Sorensen Turpin C.G., Bembenek J.N., Cheerambathur D.K., Pelisch F., “BUB-1 targets PP2A:B56 to regulates chromosome congression during meiosis I in C. elegans oocytes” (opens in new tab), eLife, vol. 9, pp. e65307, 2020.
- Chen A.L., Lum K.M., Lara-Gonzalez P., Ogasawara D., Cognetta A.B. 3rd., To A., Parsons W.H., Simon G.M., Desai A., Petrascheck M., Bar-Peled L., Cravatt B., “Pharmacological convergence reveals a lipid pathway that regulates C. elegans lifespan” (opens in new tab), Nature Chemical Biology, vol. 15, pp. 453-462, 2019.
- Lara-Gonzalez P., Moyle M.W., Budrewicz. J., Mendoza-Lopez J., Oegema K., Desai A., “The G2-to-M transition is ensured by a dual mechanism that protects cyclin B from degradation by Cdc20-activated APC/C” (opens in new tab), Developmental Cell, vol. 15, pp. 313-325, 2019.
- Hattersley N., Lara-Gonzalez P., Cheerambathur D., Gomez-Cavazos J.S., Kim T., Prevo B., Khaliullin R., Lee K.Y., Ohta M., Green R., Oegema K., Desai A., “Employing the one-cell C. elegans embryo to study cell division processes” (opens in new tab), Methods in Cell Biology, vol. 144, pp. 185-231, 2018.
- Oegema K., Davis R.L., Lara-Gonzalez P., Desai A., Shiau A.K., “CFI-400945 is not a selective cellular PLK4 inhibitor” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 115, pp. E10808-E10809, 2018.
- Wang S., Tang N.H., Lara-Gonzalez P., Zhao Z., Prevo B., Cheerambathur D.K., Chisholm A.D., Desai A., Oegema K., “A toolkit for GFP-mediated tissue-specific protein degradation in C. elegans” (opens in new tab), Development Cambridge, vol. 144, no. 14, pp. 2694-2701, 2017.
- Kim T., Lara-Gonzalez P., Prevo B., Meitinger F., Cheerambathur D., Oegema K., Desai A., “Kinetochores accelerate or delay APC/C activation by directing Cdc20 to opposite fates” (opens in new tab), Genes and Development, vol. 31, no. 11, pp. 1089-1094, 2017.
Most Cited Publications
- Lara-Gonzalez P., Westhorpe F.G., Taylor S.S., “The Spindle Assembly Checkpoint” (opens in new tab), Current Biology, vol. 22, pp. R966-80, 2012.
- Westhorpe F.G., Tighe A., Lara-Gonzalez P., Taylor S.S., “p31comet-mediated extraction of Mad2 from the MCC promotes efficient mitotic exit” (opens in new tab), Journal of Cell Science, vol. 124, pp. 3905-16, 2011.
- Lara-Gonzalez P., Scott M.I., Diez M., Sen O., Taylor S.S., “BubR1 blocks substrate recruitment to the APC/C in a KEN-box-dependent manner” (opens in new tab), Journal of Cell Science, vol. 124, pp. 4332-45, 2011.
- Espeut J., Lara-Gonzalez P., Sassine M., Shiau A.K., Desai A., Abrieu A., “Natural loss of Mps1 kinase in nematodes uncovers a role for Polo-like kinase 1 in spindle checkpoint initiation” (opens in new tab), Cell Reports, vol. 12, pp. 58-65, 2015.
- Lara-Gonzalez P., Taylor S.S., “Cohesion fatigue explains why pharmacological inhibition of the APC/C induces a spindle checkpoint-dependent mitotic arrest” (opens in new tab), PLoS ONE, vol. 7, pp. e49041, 2012.
- Kim T., Moyle M.W., Lara-Gonzalez P., De Groot C., Oegema K., Desai A., “Kinetochore-localized BUB-1/BUB-3 complex promotes anaphase onset in C. elegans” (opens in new tab), Journal of Cell Biology, vol. 209, pp. 507-517, 2015.
- Lara-Gonzalez P., Kim T., Desai A., “Taming the Beast: Control of APC/CCdc20-Dependent Destruction” (opens in new tab), Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology, vol. 81, pp. 033712, 2017.
Contact Information
Email: plaragon@uci.edu
Phone: (949) 824-4517
Address: 4244 McGaugh Hall, Irvine, CA 92697-2300
Return to topThis profile was created with the help of AI.
Last updated on 5/13/2026.