Final Report Summary - MEIOSIS2012 (Chromosome segregation during meiosis) Dr. Gregan has successfully established his research group at the Department of Genetics, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, thanks to this Marie Sklodowska-Curie Career Integration Grant. Dr. Gregan has returned to his home country Slovakia after 17 years of doing research abroad. In addition to his research activities, Dr. Gregan contributed to teaching and helped with his advice to restructure Slovak research landscape in order to bring it closer to the level of top research countries. The scientist in charge of this project, Prof. L. Tomaska, who is the head of the host institute, helped Dr. Gregan in all possible ways to make this project successful.The aim of Dr. Gregan’s research is to understand molecular mechanisms responsible for the reduction of chromosome number during meiosis, a specialized cell division which produces haploid gametes (e.g. sperm and egg cells) from diploid cells. It is important to understand this process not only because it is a fundamental aspect of biology but also because defects in chromosome segregation (missegregation) during meiosis cause miscarriages, infertility and genetic diseases such as Down’s syndrome. If we want to understand mechanisms governing meiotic chromosome segregation, we must first identify and characterize the relevant proteins. In this project, Dr. Gregan focused on new proteins required for proper segregation of chromosomes during meiosis using the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe as a model organism. During the second period of this project, Dr. Gregan and his team analyzed new S. pombe genes required for proper segregation of chromosomes during meiosis that he previously identified in genetic screens. This resulted in a deeper functional understanding of identified proteins. Many of these proteins and processes are evolutionarily conserved. Therefore, in the long run, these results may help us to understand the mechanism of gamete development and sexual reproduction with implications for diagnostics and treatment of infertility, certain cancers and genetic diseases.More information about the results of this project can be found on Dr. Gregan’s webpage (https://gregangroup.wordpress.com/research/marie-curie-cig-project) or obtained directly from Dr. Gregan (gregan@fns.uniba.sk).
