Melissa A. Wilson examines how the human X and Y chromosomes have changed overtime in the pseudoautosomal regions. Wilson and her colleagues determine the relationship between this region and their relationship with the rest of the X and Y chromosomes.This line of research is important because the differences and similarities in DNA influence recombination of the chromosomes-- creating genetic diversity and enabling evolution. 

View the seminar held at the National Institutes of Health discussing her research here.

In her NIGMS Director's Early-Career Investigator lecture, Wilson presented an overview of sex differences in disease and summarized the evolutionary history of the human X and Y chromosomes. She then presented new methods to better analyze the genetic blueprint (genome and transcriptome) of the sex chromosomes and explained how that is aiding scientists in understanding sex-linked diseases.