Every time a human cell divides, it must pull apart 23 pairs of chromosomes into two identical sets—and when this goes wrong, the result can be cancer, birth defects, or miscarriage. This project tackles a fundamental gap in biology: how do cells ensure that each chromosome is correctly attached to the machinery that separates them? Mistakes produce aneuploidy—an abnormal number of chromosomes—which is a hallmark of aggressive tumours. The researchers are studying the molecular mechanics of this process in fission yeast, a simple organism that shares key cell-division machinery with humans. Yeast allows them to use genetic, biochemical, and imaging tools that would be impossible in human cells, and it also reduces the need for animal experiments. This is fundamental science. There is no immediate clinical application. But understanding the core mechanisms of chromosome segregation could eventually lead to new diagnostic tests for aneuploidy in early embryos or tumours, and to therapies that target the vulnerable points in cancer cells’ division machinery. Past discoveries in this same yeast species have revealed how cells control their cycle—knowledge that now underpins many cancer drugs.
View original technical description
The human body is composed of approximately 100 trillion cells, each of which contain the same genetic material (DNA) that specifies who and what we are. Our DNA is tightly packaged into 23 separate units called chromosomes. Every time a cell divides, each of these chromosomes needs to be duplicated once and then one of each of the pair of chromosomes needs to be segregated to each of the two daughter cells. Mistakes in this process can lead to cell death, alterations in cell identity or unrestrained cell proliferation. These can result in a variety of human ailments including miscarriages, birth defects and cancer. Importantly, the cells from most aggressive human tumours show a high variation in chromosome numbers, a phenomenon known as aneuploidy. The aim of our research is to understand the molecular mechanisms that ensure accurate segregation of chromosomes in normal cells in the hope that we can understand how these are subverted during human disease. Fortunately, many of the key molecular events that control cycle progression have been evolutionarily conserved from yeast to man. For this reason we study the process of chromosome segregation in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, since it is highly amenable to genetic, biochemical and immunocytochemical analysis and alternative tool to reduce the use of animals for experimentation. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms which control chromosome segregation will help us to design new diagnostics and therapies that will help us to prevent or cure these human ailments.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know