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Research | Core Facilities | Patient Studies | Tech Transfer | Seminars | Intranet | Jobs | Search | Contact Us | Ways To Give HOME |
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More about Dr. Dawson 101 Cell Cycle and Cancer Biology Research Program
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Research Interests Our laboratory is involved in two major projects. Slk19 is a bi-functional protein. Slk19 is a member of the FEAR signaling pathway that helps to co-ordinate the timing of cell cycle events from anaphase to cytokinesis. In the absence of a functional FEAR pathway mitotic cells experience delays in completing the cell cycle and meiotic cells produce highly aneuploid gametes. Slk19 is critical for transmitting the FEAR signal though how it participates is unclear. This question is one we are exploring. Slk19 may be related to the human TACC family proteins, which are implicated in certain cancers. TACC proteins participate in controlling mitotic spindle dynamics and this is true for Slk19 as well. It is this undefined role, separate from the FEAR pathway that appears to be shared among the TACC proteins. The manner in which Slk19 contributes to spindle function, and the consequences of failures in Slk19 activity are under investigation in my laboratory. A second project in our laboratory explores the basis of chromosome segregation errors in meiosis. In meiosis I, chromosomes pair and recombine with their homologous partners, then segregate away from their partners at anaphase I. Most human birth defects (Down syndrome, for example) occur when a pair of homologs fails to segregate away from each other, instead moving to the same pole of the spindle at anaphase I. This failure of homologs to segregate away from each other is correlated with a failure to recombine. We have developed a yeast model system in which each yeast cell has one pair of non-recombined partners in every meiosis. This system has allowed us to describe the cellular processes that are used to correctly partition the error-prone chromosomes in most meioses. Most importantly we have discovered the centromere pairing plays a previously unrecognized role in mediating meiotic chromosome segregation. In addition, we have recently determined that the spindle checkpoint is especially important for the segregation of error-prone meiotic chromosomes and that the human spindle checkpoint protein, BubR1, can participate in this process in yeast. These results suggest testable molecular explanations for meiotic mis-segregation in humans. Future work will continue to explore the relationships of recombination, centromere pairing and the spindle checkpoint in mediating meiotic chromosome behavior. Joined OMRF Scientific Staff in 2006. Mailing Address
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