{"id":4934,"date":"2019-05-17T09:53:29","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T13:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biomol.umontreal.ca\/research\/les-professeurs\/fitzharris-greg-ph-d\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T14:03:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T19:03:47","slug":"fitzharris-greg-ph-d","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/biomol.umontreal.ca\/en\/research\/les-professeurs\/fitzharris-greg-ph-d\/","title":{"rendered":"Fitzharris, Greg, Ph.D."},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Coordonn\u00e9es<\/h3>\n<p>Centre de recherche &#8211; CHUM<br \/>\nInstitut du cancer de Montr\u00e9al<br \/>\n900 rue St-Denis<br \/>\nMontr\u00e9al, QC, H2X 0A9<br \/>\n<strong>T<\/strong> 514 890-8000 #31399<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:greg.fitzharris@umontreal.ca\">greg.fitzharris@umontreal.ca\u00a0<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:richard.bertrand@umontreal.ca\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"one-half first \">\n<h2>Axes de recherche<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;\">Mitose<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;\">D\u00e9veloppement et diff\u00e9renciation tissulaire<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;\">G\u00e9nomique<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;\">G\u00e9n\u00e9tique humaine et maladies g\u00e9n\u00e9tiques<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Description de la recherche<\/h2>\n<p>Une des principales causes d\u2019infertilit\u00e9 est li\u00e9e \u00e0 un d\u00e9faut dans l\u2019ovule de la femme (ovocyte) qui cause un nombre incorrect de chromosomes. Ces ovocytes dits \u00abaneuplo\u00efdes\u00bb entra\u00eenent des troubles du d\u00e9veloppement tels que le syndrome de Down et peuvent provoquer une fausse couche. Ces erreurs se produisent plus lorsque l\u2019\u00e2ge de la m\u00e8re est plus avanc\u00e9 et sont donc une des principales raisons pour lesquelles les femmes plus \u00e2g\u00e9es ont plus de difficult\u00e9 \u00e0 \u00e9tablir une grossesse en sant\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p>La partie de la cellule responsable du maintien du nombre correct de chromosomes est le fuseau, une machine biologique complexe qui rassemble et trie les chromosomes au moment de la division cellulaire. Le fuseau permet aussi la s\u00e9paration des chromosomes entre les deux cellules filles dans un processus appel\u00e9 s\u00e9gr\u00e9gation chromosomique. Le processus causant une s\u00e9gr\u00e9gation des chromosomes d\u00e9fectueuse est mal connu. Lorsque l&#8217;ovocyte est f\u00e9cond\u00e9, les premi\u00e8res divisions cellulaires de l&#8217;embryon ainsi form\u00e9 sont \u00e9galement tr\u00e8s sujettes \u00e0 une s\u00e9gr\u00e9gation chromosomique erron\u00e9e. Ces erreurs embryonnaires sont \u00e9galement associ\u00e9es \u00e0 une baisse de fertilit\u00e9, mais leurs causes et cons\u00e9quences restent obscures.<\/p>\n<p>Les recherches men\u00e9es dans notre laboratoire visent \u00e0 comprendre comment sont fabriqu\u00e9s les ovocytes et les embryons en bonne sant\u00e9, et nous nous concentrons particuli\u00e8rement sur les raisons pour lesquelles des d\u00e9fauts de s\u00e9gr\u00e9gation des chromosomes peuvent entra\u00eener une infertilit\u00e9. Nous nous sp\u00e9cialisons dans l&#8217;utilisation de techniques de microscopie de pointe pour analyser la fonction de l&#8217;ovocyte et de l&#8217;embryon\u00a0<em>ex vivo<\/em>. Nous avons d&#8217;importants collaborateurs \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al et ailleurs, notamment des coop\u00e9rations \u00e9troites avec Hugh Clarke du CRRD (\u00ab\u00a0<em>Centre for Research in Reproduction and Development<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb) ainsi qu\u2019avec l\u2019\u00e9quipe du centre de procr\u00e9ation assist\u00e9e du CUSM (\u00ab\u00a0<em>Centre universitaire de sant\u00e9 McGill\u00a0\u00bb)<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Les projets en cours dans le laboratoire incluent:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Analyse du comportement du fuseau dans les ovocytes.<\/li>\n<li>\u00c9valuation des modifications de la fonction du fuseau en lien avec l&#8217;\u00e2ge de la m\u00e8re et comment ces changements provoquent des erreurs de s\u00e9gr\u00e9gation des chromosomes.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Analyse du m\u00e9canisme de s\u00e9gr\u00e9gation chromosomique chez les embryons et causes de ces erreurs de s\u00e9gr\u00e9gation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"one-half  \">\n<h2>Research axis<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;\">Mitose<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;\">D\u00e9veloppement et diff\u00e9renciation tissulaire<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;\">G\u00e9nomique<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Calibri',sans-serif; color: black;\">G\u00e9n\u00e9tique humaine et maladies g\u00e9n\u00e9tiques<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Research description<\/h2>\n<p>A leading cause of infertility is a defect in the woman\u2019s egg (oocyte) that causes it to have the wrong number of chromosomes. These so-called \u2018aneuploid\u2019 oocytes cause developmental conditions such as Down\u2019s, and can lead to pregnancy loss. These errors become increasingly common with advancing maternal age, and are therefore a major reason why older women experience difficulties establishing a healthy pregnancy.<\/p>\n<p>The part of the cell responsible for maintaining the correct chromosome number is the spindle &#8211; a complex biological machine that gathers and sorts chromosomes at the time of cell division, and dispatches them to the two daughter cells in a process termed chromosome segregation. Why chromosome segregation often goes wrong in oocytes is poorly understood. Once the oocyte is fertilized the first several cell divisions in the newly forming embryo are also highly prone to chromosome miss-segregation. These embryonic errors are also associated with decreased fertility, but their causes and consequences remain obscure.<\/p>\n<p>Research in our laboratory is aimed at understanding how healthy eggs and embryos are made, and we are particularly focusing on how and why defects in chromosome segregation can cause infertility. We specialize in the use of cutting edge microscopy techniques to analyze egg and embryo function ex-vivo. We have important collaborators in Montreal and elsewhere, including close collaborations with Hugh Clarke of the CRRD, and the MUHC assisted reproduction facility.<\/p>\n<p>Ongoing projects in the lab include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Analysis of spindle behavior in oocytes.<\/li>\n<li>Evaluation of the changes in spindle function that occur with maternal age, and how this causes chromosome segregation error.<\/li>\n<li>Analysis of the mechanism of chromosome segregation in embryos, and the causes of segregation errors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<hr\/>\n<h3>Publications<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/30773364\">Cell-Size-Independent Spindle Checkpoint Failure Underlies Chromosome Segregation Error in Mouse Embryos.<\/a> V\u00e1zquez-Diez C, Paim LMG,\u00a0<strong>FitzHarris G<\/strong>. Curr Biol. 2019 Mar 4;29(5):865-873.e3. doi: 10.1016\/j.cub.2018.12.042. Epub 2019 Feb 14.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/30130515\">Segregating Chromosomes in the Mammalian Oocyte.<\/a> Mihajlovi\u0107 AI,\u00a0<strong>FitzHarris G<\/strong>. Curr Biol. 2018 Aug 20;28(16):R895-R907. doi: 10.1016\/j.cub.2018.06.057. Review.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coordonn\u00e9es Centre de recherche &#8211; CHUM Institut du cancer de Montr\u00e9al 900 rue St-Denis Montr\u00e9al, QC, H2X 0A9 T 514 890-8000 #31399 greg.fitzharris@umontreal.ca\u00a0 Publications Cell-Size-Independent Spindle Checkpoint Failure Underlies Chromosome [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"parent":3557,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4934","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fitzharris, Greg, Ph.D. - Programmes de biologie mol\u00e9culaire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/biomol.umontreal.ca\/en\/research\/les-professeurs\/fitzharris-greg-ph-d\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fitzharris, Greg, Ph.D. - Programmes de biologie mol\u00e9culaire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Coordonn\u00e9es Centre de recherche &#8211; 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