Our lab is interested in telomere function, the regulation of telomere length and the biochemical mechanism of telomerase.
Telomeres are essential for both chromosome stability and for length maintenance.
Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein reverse transcriptase that synthesizes telomere repeats onto chromosome ends. Telomerase activity is often not detected in a human primary cells and tissues, while tumor-derived cell lines and many tumors samples contain detectable telomerase activity. Our data suggest that under some circumstances telomerase inhibition will lead to apoptosis and reduced tumor formation. However, we also discovered that the absence of telomerase may lead to increased genetic instability and increased tumor initiation in some genetic backgrounds. Thus apoptotic pathways that are active in a given tumor cell must be considered when testing telomerase inhibition therapies.