Thesis advisor: David R. Burgess / Cytokinesis is the final step in cell division, culminating in the formation of two daughter cells from a single mother cell. Previous studies from our lab have shown that lipid rafts are dynamic during cytokinesis in sea urchin embryos, migrating into the ingressing cleavage furrow then moving back outwards towards the poles prior to abscission. Here, I quantitated the mobility of GM1, a ganglioside enriched in lipid rafts, using cholera toxin subunit B (CTB). Despite previous observations of raft movement during cell division, I have found lipid rafts to be immobile throughout the cell cycle. Lipid raft stability is dependent on the activity of myosin light chain kinase (MLCK), most likely due to the dramatic reorganization of actin filaments upon MLCK inhibition. While further investigating the immobility of lipid rafts during cytokinesis using confocal microscopy, I have found that new membrane is added to the cell poles during anaphase, causing the plasma membrane to expand coincident with the constriction of the contractile ring. This membrane addition is dependent on actin and astral microtubules and occurs significantly earlier during mitosis than membrane addition at the furrow. The membrane that is added at the polar regions is compositionally distinct from the original cell membrane in that it is devoid of GM1, a component of lipid rafts. I also found that Rab11 vesicles are trafficked to the polar plasma membrane during the time of this new membrane event, suggesting that the growth of the plasma membrane at the cell poles during cell division is not due to stretching as previously thought, but due to the addition of new membrane through exocytosis. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Biology.