Grimes is interested in understanding the role of the centromere, the region at the center of the chromosome, and its contribution to genome stability. Specifically, failures in the functions of the centromere lead to changes in chromosome copy number, and such changes are frequently associated with cancer progression, particularly in solid tumors. Her laboratory will introduce artificial chromosomes carrying large human transgenes into mice to test their capacity to rescue mutations in mouse models of human disease. Dr. Grimes’ laboratory is interested in understanding chromosome segregation mechanisms and in the development and evaluation of chromosome-based vectors in gene therapy applications.
