Mustafa G. Aydogan

Dr. Mustafa Aydogan is an Assistant Professor of Genetics and Development at Columbia University and an Early Career Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He received his B.A. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he worked under the mentorship of J. Richard McIntosh and Natalie G. Ahn. During his doctoral studies with Jordan Raff at the University of Oxford, Dr. Aydogan discovered the molecular clock that drives centriole biogenesis cycles: one that is normally entrained by the canonical cell-cycle oscillator, CDK-cyclin complexes, to remain synchronized with the cycles of DNA replication and segregation, yet it can also operate independently to govern centriole biogenesis when CDK activity is silenced. Together with other studies revealing a broad range of cell biological processes regulated by autonomous cycles, Dr. Aydogan’s foundational contributions and leadership have helped define the emerging concept of autonomous clocks. His pioneering work enabled him to launch his independent laboratory immediately after his Ph.D. as a Faculty Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Aydogan’s recent work continues to shape this field, including his laboratory’s discovery that cytokinesis, the division of the cytoplasm, can proceed in periodic cycles independently of the nucleus and mitotic CDK-cyclin complexes. His early accomplishments have been recognized by numerous honors, including the Sandler Foundation Faculty Award in 2020, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award in 2023, and the HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar Award in 2025.