The people behind the papers – Kelsey Brooks and Shawn Chavez

Aneuploidy can occur in embryos due to errors in chromosome segregation during the first mitotic cleavage divisions, and often results in developmental arrest. A new paper in Development characterises the molecular events that lead to abnormal chromosome numbers in the cells of bovine embryos. We caught up with first author Kelsey Brooks and corresponding author Shawn Chavez, Associate Professor at the Oregon National Primate Research Center and Oregon Health & Science University, to find out more about their research and the impact it may have on in vitro fertilisation procedures in the future.