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Dr. Pezza:

Dr. Pezza's CV in brief

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Cell Cycle and Cancer Biology Research Program

Dr. Pezza In The News

OMRF announces partnership with Chinese research institute

Roberto Jose Pezza, Ph.D. Assistant Member, Cell Cycle and Cancer Biology Research Program

Research Interests
Chromosome aneuploidies are the leading cause of infertility and birth defects in humans. They result from errors in the segregation of homologous chromosomes (HCs) during gametogenesis. The proper segregation of chromosomes is ensured by meiotic homolog recombination (HR). It begins with the introduction of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) followed by their repair using the intact DNA of a HCs as template. This leads to a temporal association of the HCs in pairs that ensures their orderly segregation to opposite poles of dividing nuclei so that each gamete receives one (and only one) homolog of each pair. The homologs that fail to synapse segregate randomly, having 50% chances to go into the same daughter cell. Consequently, mutations that reduce or abolish recombination are invariably associated with gross abnormalities in chromosome segregation. An estimated 10 to 30% of fertilized human eggs have the wrong number of chromosomes resulting in at least 5% of conceptions being aneuploid. Most of them abort before term making aneuploidy the leading known cause of pregnancy loss. Those who survive face devastating consequences, including developmental disabilities and mental retardation.

The field of homologous recombination faces exciting challenges. One of the biggest tests will be to connect the dots between the biochemical function of proteins involved in HR and their in vivo role.

My laboratory studies the bases involved in the repair of DSBs and HCs synapses in mouse. We use a combination of different approaches ranging from the reconstruction of in vitro systems using purified proteins to the generation of genetically modified mice. Our goal is to uncover the fundamental molecular mechanisms regulating the process of homologous recognition and the proper segregation of HCs.

Joined OMRF Scientific Staff in 2009.

Mailing Address
Cell Cycle and Cancer Biology Research Program, MS 48
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
825 N.E. 13th Street
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104

Contact Information
Phone: (405) 271-6467
Fax: (405) 271-7312
E-mail: Roberto-Pezza@omrf.org