Prof Terry Hassold presents 3rd Annual Patricia Jacobs lecture

The 3rd annual Patricia Jacobs Lecture was this year delivered by Professor Terry Hassold to an audience of 100 attendees. His lecture was recorded, and can be watched below.

Professor Hassold delivered his talk entitled 'Aneuploidy in humans: What we know, what we wish we knew', providing a fascinating overview of the field. Professor Hassold is Eastlick Distinguished Professor at Washington State University, and has published over 20 papers with Professor Patricia Jacobs.

One of the primary aims of his laboratory is the use of cytogenetic and molecular techniques to study the origin and etiology of human chromosome abnormalities, with the aim being to uncover basic mechanisms responsible for the errors. Additionally, because of the importance of abnormal meiotic recombination to the genesis of human trisomies, they have recently initiated a series of studies to examine factors responsible for 'setting' recombination levels in mammalian males and females. Surprisingly, their observations indicate that at many stages in the recombination process human females make 'mistakes', increasing the likelihood of chromosome abnormalities in oocytes. These errors appear to occur at similar frequencies in different human populations suggesting that, for reasons that are unclear, they confer an evolutionary benefit.

The 100-stong audience included diverse academics, clinicians and postgraduate students, along with staff from Wessex Regional Genetics Laboratory, of which Professor Jacobs is former Director.

This lecture was possible thanks to the kind support of the Genetics Society.