Beth Weaver

Address: 6109 WIMR tower 1 – 1111 Highland Ave. – Madison, WI 53705 

Visit the Weaver Lab Website

PubMed

Education

B.S., Brown University
Ph.D., University of California, San Diego
Postdoctoral Research, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

Research

• Genes required for accurate chromosome segregation
• Effects of radiation and chemotherapy on mitosis; biomarkers of response
• Types and rates of chromosome segregation errors that drive tumor promotion versus tumor suppression

Representative Publications

• Scribano CM, Wan J, Esbona K, Tucker JB, Lasek A, Zhou AS, Zasadil LM, Molini R, Fitzgerald J, Lager AM, Laffin JJ, Correia-Staudt K, Wisinski KB, Tevaarwerk AJ, O’Regan R, McGregor SM, Fowler AM, Chappell RJ, Bugni TS, Burkard ME, Weaver BA. Chromosomal instability sensitizes patient breast tumors to multipolar divisions induced by paclitaxel. Sci Transl Med. 2021 Sep 8;13(610):eabd4811. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abd4811. Epub 2021 Sep 8. PMID: 34516829; PMCID: PMC8612166.
• Hu Y, Manasrah BK, McGregor SM, Lera RF, Norman RX, Tucker JB, Scribano CM, Yan RE, Humayun M, Wisinski KB, Tevaarwerk AJ, O’Regan RM, Wilke LG, Weaver BA, Beebe DJ, Jin N, Burkard ME. Paclitaxel Induces Micronucleation and Activates Pro-Inflammatory cGAS-STING Signaling in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. Mol Cancer Ther. 2021 Dec;20(12):2553-2567. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-21-0195. Epub 2021 Sep 28. PMID: 34583980; PMCID: PMC8643310.
• Cosper PF, Copeland SE, Tucker JB, Weaver BA. Chromosome Missegregation as a Modulator of Radiation Sensitivity. Semin Radiat Oncol. 2022 Jan;32(1):54-63. doi: 10.1016/j.semradonc.2021.09.002. PMID: 34861996; PMCID: PMC8883596.
• Lynch AR, Bradford S, Zhou AS, Oxendine K, Henderson L, Horner VL, Weaver BA, Burkard ME. A survey of CIN measures across mechanistic models. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Jun 15:2023.06.15.544840. doi: 10.1101/2023.06.15.544840. PMID: 37398147; PMCID: PMC10312700.
• Britigan EMC, Wan J, Sam DK, Copeland SE, Lasek AL, Hrycyniak LCF, Wang L, Audhya A, Burkard ME, Roopra A, Weaver BA. Increased Aurora B expression reduces substrate phosphorylation and induces chromosomal instability. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2022 Oct 13;10:1018161. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.1018161. PMID: 36313574; PMCID: PMC9606593.
• Funk LC, Wan J, Ryan SD, Kaur C, Sullivan R, Roopra A, Weaver BA. p53 Is Not Required for High CIN to Induce Tumor Suppression. Mol Cancer Res. 2021 Jan;19(1):112-123. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-20-0488. Epub 2020 Sep 18. PMID: 32948674; PMCID: PMC7810023.
• Tucker JB, Bonema SC, García-Varela R, Denu RA, Hu Y, McGregor SM, Burkard ME, Weaver BA. Misaligned Chromosomes are a Major Source of Chromosomal Instability in Breast Cancer. Cancer Res Commun. 2023 Jan 12;3(1):54-65. doi: 10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-22-0302. PMID: 36968230; PMCID: PMC10035514.
• Lynch AR, Arp NL, Zhou AS, Weaver BA, Burkard ME. Quantifying chromosomal instability from intratumoral karyotype diversity using agent-based modeling and Bayesian inference. Elife. 2022 Apr 5;11:e69799. doi: 10.7554/eLife.69799. PMID: 35380536; PMCID: PMC9054132.
• Cosper PF, Hrycyniak LCF, Paracha M, Lee DL, Wan J, Jones K, Bice SA, Nickel K, Mallick S, Taylor AM, Kimple RJ, Lambert PF, Weaver BA. HPV16 E6 induces chromosomal instability due to polar chromosomes caused by E6AP-dependent degradation of the mitotic kinesin CENP-E. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Apr 4;120(14):e2216700120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2216700120. Epub 2023 Mar 29. PMID: 36989302; PMCID: PMC10083562.
• Chiang CW, Shu WC, Wan J, Weaver BA, Jackson MB. Recordings from neuron-HEK cell cocultures reveal the determinants of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents. J Gen Physiol. 2021 May 3;153(5):e202012849. doi: 10.1085/jgp.202012849. PMID: 33755721; PMCID: PMC7992392.
• Matson DR, Denu RA, Zasadil LM, Burkard ME, Weaver BA, Flynn C, Stukenberg PT. High nuclear TPX2 expression correlates with TP53 mutation and poor clinical behavior in a large breast cancer cohort, but is not an independent predictor of chromosomal instability. BMC Cancer. 2021 Feb 23;21(1):186. doi: 10.1186/s12885-021-07893-7. PMID: 33622270; PMCID: PMC7901195.
• Zhou AS, Tucker JB, Scribano CM, Lynch AR, Carlsen CL, Pop-Vicas ST, Pattaswamy SM, Burkard ME, Weaver BA. Diverse microtubule-targeted anticancer agents kill cells by inducing chromosome missegregation on multipolar spindles. PLoS Biol. 2023 Oct 26;21(10):e3002339. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002339. PMID: 37883329; PMCID: PMC10602348.
• Singh A, Denu RA, Wolfe SK, Sperger JM, Schehr J, Witkowsky T, Esbona K, Chappell RJ, Weaver BA, Burkard ME, Lang JM 2020. Centrosome amplification is a frequent event in circulating tumor cells from subjects with metastatic breast cancer. Mol Oncol. doi: 10.1002/1878-0261.12687.
• Johnson JM, Hebert AS, Drane QH, Lera RF, Wan J, Weaver BA, Coon JJ, Burkard ME. 2020. A Genetic Toggle for Chemical Control of Individual Plk1 Substrates. Cell Chem Biol 19: 350-362.
• Denomy C, Germain S, Haave B, Vizeacoumar FS, Freywald A, Weaver BA, Vizeacoumar FJ. 2019. Banding Together: A Systematic Comparison of The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Mitelman Database. Cancer Res 79: 5181-5190.
• Wan J, Block S, Scribano CM, Thiry R, Esbona K, Audhya A, Weaver BA. Mad1 destabilizes p53 by preventing PML from sequestering MDM2. Nature Commun 10: 1540-1553.
• Burkard ME, Weaver BA. Tuning Chromosomal Instability to Optimize Tumor Fitness. Cancer Discov. 2017 Feb;7(2):134-136.
• Funk LC, Zasadil LM, Weaver BA. Living in CIN: Mitotic Infidelity and Its Consequences for Tumor Promotion and Suppression. Dev Cell. 2016 Dec 19;39(6):638-652. Review.
• Zasadil LM, Britigan EM, Ryan SD, Kaur C, Guckenberger DJ, Beebe DJ, Moser AR, Weaver BA. (2016) High rates of chromosome missegregation suppress tumor progression but do not inhibit tumor initiation. Mol Biol Cell. 27(13):1981-9.
• Denu RA, Zasadil LM, Kanugh C, Laffin J, Weaver BA, Burkard ME. (2016) Centrosome amplification induces high grade features and is prognostic of worse outcomes in breast cancer. BMC Cancer. 16:47.

• Choudhary A, Zachek B, Lera RF, Zasadil LM, Lasek A, Denu RA, Kim H, Kanugh C, Laffin JJ, Harter JM, Wisinski KB, Saha S, Weaver BA, Burkard ME. (2016) Identification of Selective Lead Compounds for Treatment of High-Ploidy Breast Cancer. Mol Cancer Ther. 15:48-59.

• Hwang B, McCool K, Wan J, Wuerzberger-Davis SM, Young EW, Choi EY, Cingolani G, Weaver BA, Miyamoto S. (2015) IPO3-mediated Nonclassical Nuclear Import of NF-κB Essential Modulator (NEMO) Drives DNA Damage-dependent NF-κB Activation. J Biol Chem. 290:17967-84.

• Wan J, Weaver BA. (2015) Mad1 at the Golgi apparatus: a story beyond kinetochores. Cell Cycle. 14:1763-4.

• Wan J, Zhu F, Zasadil LM, Yu J, Wang L, Johnson A, Berthier E, Beebe DJ, Audhya A, Weaver BA. (2014) A Golgi-localized pool of the mitotic checkpoint component Mad1 controls integrin secretion and cell migration. Curr Biol. 24:2687-92.

• Weaver BA. (2014) How Taxol/paclitaxel kills cancer cells. Mol Biol Cell. 25:2677-81.

• Britigan EM, Wan J, Zasadil LM, Ryan SD, Weaver BA. (2014) The ARF tumor suppressor prevents chromosomal instability and ensures mitotic checkpoint fidelity through regulation of Aurora B. Mol Biol Cell. 25:2761-73.

• Zasadil LM, Andersen KA, Yeum D, Rocque GB, Wilke LG, Tevaarwerk AJ, Raines RT, Burkard ME, Weaver BA. (2014) Cytotoxicity of paclitaxel in breast cancer is due to chromosome missegregation on multipolar spindles. Sci Transl Med. 6:229ra43.

• Choudhary A, Lera RF, Martowicz ML, Oxendine K, Laffin JJ, Weaver BA, Burkard ME. (2013) Interphase cytofission maintains genomic integrity of human cells after failed cytokinesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 110:13026-31.

• Zasadil LM, Britigan EM, Weaver BA. (2013) 2n or not 2n: Aneuploidy, polyploidy and chromosomal instability in primary and tumor cells. Semin Cell Dev Biol. 24:370-9.

• Harkness T, Weaver BA, Alexander CM, Ogle BM. (2013) Cell fusion in tumor development: accelerated genetic evolution. Crit Rev Oncog. 18:19-42. Review.

• Ryan, S.D., Britigan, E.M.C., Zasadil, L.M., Witte, K., Audhya, A., Roopra, A. and Weaver, B.A.. (2012). Up-regulation of the mitotic checkpoint component Mad1 causes chromosomal instability and resistance to microtubule poisons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A., 109:E2205-14.
• Weaver BA, Silk AD, Montagna C, Verdier-Pinard P, and Cleveland DW. (2007). Aneuploidy acts both oncogenically and as a tumor suppressor. Cancer Cell. 11:25-36.