Genome integrity depends on the fidelity of chromosome segregation during mitosis and meiosis. Defects in these processes results in an abnormal number of chromosomes, or aneuploidy, which is usually catastrophic and is the leading cause of infertility in women and the cause of disorders such ‘as Down’s syndrome and is usually associated with tumor cell development. Research in the McKim laboratory is directed at understanding the mechanism of chromosome segregation during meiosis in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Our experiments include several innovative approaches that combine sophisticated genetics and high-resolution immunofluorescence microscopy to image the structure and behavior of meiotic proteins, chromosomes and spindles in oocytes.
Program Faculty
- Kim S. McKim
- Professor
- Department: Department of Genetics
- Graduate Program(s): Cell and Developmental Biology | Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
- Major Research Interest(s): Cell division / Cell cycle, Chromosome Biology, Developmental Biology, DNA replication and repair, Reproduction and Gametogenesis
- Research Techniques: Cell Biology, Fluorescent and super resolution microscopy, Genetics, Imaging
- Research Organism(s): Drosophila
- Phone: 1.8484451164
- Email: mckim@waksman.rutgers.edu
- School of Arts and Sciences
- Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Room 206
- 190 Frelinghuysen Road
- Piscataway, NJ 08854-8020
- Key Words: meiosis, oocyte, DNA repair, chromosome pairing, aneuploidy, kinetochore
- Lab Site URL
