Greehey CCRI Seminar Series, Fall ’23: Gary J. Gorbsky, Ph.D. Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

My laboratory studies the awesome process of how cells divide. Each human cell contains 46 packets of DNA, the genetic material. These DNA packets are called chromosomes, and each chromosome is different. Every time a cell divides, the chromosomes are duplicated and then carefully distributed so that each of the two new cells that are formed gets a complete and accurate set of all the chromosomes. Usually, cell division is extremely precise, but sometimes defects occur, resulting in newly formed cells receiving an incorrect set of chromosomes. Most human cancer cells have an abnormal set of chromosomes. This chromosome imbalance can contribute to cancer cells growing out of control and invading normal tissues. Defects during cell division are also important triggers of infertility and birth defects. Researchers in my laboratory are trying to understand how the cellular machinery that distributes the chromosomes to the dividing cells is regulated. We seek to understand how cell division occurs flawlessly in most cases but also how it sometimes goes wrong, leading to abnormal cell divisions that can contribute to cancer, infertility, and birth defects.