Kale Hartmann

Graduate Student, Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology
B.S. Siena College (2014)
started in the lab April 2015

Research Interests

Crossovers (COs) between homologous chromosomes ensure proper meiosis I segregation, but to do so they must be in the right places along the chromosome. Crossovers near the centromere can disrupt segregation and are a common cause of nondisjunction of chromosome 21 that leads to Down Syndrome. In many animals there is a strong "centromere effect" that prevents crossovers too close to the centromere. I am using Drosophila melanogaster, the organism in which this phenomenon was first discovered, to elucidate properties and mechanisms of the centromere effect.

Publications from research in the Sekelsky Lab

• M. Hartmann, J. Sekelsky (2017) The absence of crossovers on chromosome 4 in Drosophila melanogaster: Imperfection or interesting exception? Fly. DOI: 10.1080/19336934.2017.1321181
   
• T. Hatkevich*, K. Kohl*, S. McMahan, M. Hartmann, A. Williams, J. Sekelsky (2017) Blm helicase promotes meiotic crossover patterning and homolog disjunction. Current Biology 27: 1-5. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.10.055
   

Awards

• ImPACT Internship Award (Oct 2017): Internship and Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Leadership Roles

• Coordinator, DNA Day Connect (2015-2017).