The Hawley Lab is known for groundbreaking work on meiosis in the fruit fly, Drosophila. Meiosis is a specialized type of cell division required for sexual reproduction. The lab’s studies of egg generation in Drosophila are improving our understanding of how maternal age affects human reproductive capacity due to meiotic anomalies, which often result in miscarriage or birth defects.

Meiosis follows a strict order in which maternal and paternal chromosomes pair up, exchange genetic material, and then separate. Their research addresses: how chromosomes in female fruit flies align and swap genetic information; how they separate into two daughter cells during the first division; and how the second division is coordinated, producing eggs (oocytes) with half the number of chromosomes.

The Hawley Lab has defined factors that govern recombination, a process where chromosomes exchange genetic information. The lab discovered a chromosome-binding protein, Trade Embargo, that governs the first step in initiating recombination. Live imaging is used to observe how chromosomes align as meiosis begins, leading to identification of how the protein Nod nudges chromosomes into proper alignment. The team discovered that the protein, Matrimony, controls the timing of several critical meiotic events by directly blocking the activity of an enzyme controlling meiotic progression.