How Shelterin Solves the Telomere End-Protection Problem

Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series Dr. de Lange studied biochemistry at the University of Amsterdam and the Netherlands Cancer Institute. As part of her undergraduate training, she worked on globin gene expression at the National Institute for Medical Research (Mill Hill, London). She did her graduate work on the activation and transcription of surface antigen genes in typanosomes. After obtaining her Ph.D. in 1985, she was a postdoctoral fellow with Harold Varmus at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was one of the first to isolate the telomeres of human chromosomes. Telomeres are nucleoprotein complexes that protect chromosome ends and ensure their complete replication. The loss of telomere protection is the root cause of the premature aging symptoms associated with Dyskeratosis congenita (a rare, progressive bone-marrow failure syndrome) and other telomeropathies. Furthermore, telomere dysfunction plays an important role in the early stages of cancer. Dr. de Lange studies how the telomeric shelterin complex prevents the activation of DNA-damage signaling pathways and blocks various forms of double-strand break repair.Air date: 1/14/2015 3:00:00 PM
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