An Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation scientist has received a two-year grant to explore one of biology’s oldest mysteries: how chromosomes find the correct partner before an egg or sperm cell is formed.

With a $470,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, OMRF’s Roberto Pezza, Ph.D., will build on a new method he developed a way to observe chromosomes moving inside living cells in real time.

For more than a century, researchers have pieced together snapshots to understand this critical process. Pezza’s new imaging process allows scientists to watch the entire process unfold as it happens.

Every person inherits one copy of each chromosome from their mother and one from their father. Before eggs and sperm are created, these matching chromosomes must recognize one another and join together before separating correctly. If that process goes wrong, it can lead to miscarriages or genetic conditions such as Down syndrome.

Using his new imaging system, Pezza’s lab discovered a previously unknown way that chromosomes locate and join one another in male reproductive cells. The scientific journal Nature Communications recently published this discovery.

With the new grant, Pezza will now investigate the same process in female reproductive cells.

“Understanding exactly how healthy eggs and sperm are formed may help us develop better ways to predict or perhaps even prevent pregnancy loss,” Pezza said.

An estimated 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, with most occurring during the first trimester. Ther risk for miscarriage and having a baby born with Down syndrome or other congenital disorders increases with the age of the mother.

“With more people choosing to have children later in life, understanding the fundamental biology behind chromosome behavior is more important than ever,” Pezza said.

Pezza’s grant, No. R21HD118636-01A1, was awarded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, part of the NIH. His lab’s recent discovery was supported by grant No. R01HD110990 from the same NIH institute and also by funding from the Presbyterian Health Foundation.

This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.