Murray describes the work of Marion Shonn, a student who graduated from his lab, and her research into the process used by the spindle
checkpoint to ensure that cells behave properly during meiosis. Demonstrating the correct and incorrect processes of meiosis, Murray asks,
"How important is the spindle checkpoint in this process? Does the checkpoint help to realign the chromosomes that have been incorrectly aligned?"
Shonn found that the spindle checkpoint performs two functions: it helps to stop cells that have done things wrong, and,
while they're stopped, it fixes chromosomes so that they properly align. Asks Murray, "What does all this have to do with human
biology?" Firstly, it deactivates the scissors used to separate the linkage between the chromosomes when they
are incorrectly lined up. In addition, it attempts to correct the problematic chromosomal alignment while the cell is waiting to perform meiosis.
"It's those two things that
act synergistically, that suggest that this relates to Down Syndrome," says Murray.
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