Postdoctoral Researcher at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Telomeres represent potent signaling detectors for DNA damage in the cell, residing at the ends of our chromosomes. Containing only 1/3000th of the total DNA in the cell, they monitor the number of cell divisions and protect us from uncontrolled cell division that can lead to cancer. Telomeres consist of a complex assembly of repetitive DNA, cellular histone and DNA repair factors, and RNA transcribed from the telomeres themselves termed TERRA. Following transcription of TERRA, some of this RNA remains annealed to the telomere in the form of R-loops. Unresolved R-loops represent one form of DNA damage, yet they may play a central role in forming t-loops, a looped arrangement of the telomere in which the very DNA end is folded back to anneal to internal telomeric sites. The goal of these studies is to use a combination of electron microscopy, light microscopy, cell biology, and biochemical methods to investigate the location, frequency and role of R-loops at the telomere. The relevance of R-loops to human disease will be a central focus. This will be done using mammalian tissue culture and cells exhibiting the ALT phenotype. The person in this position will carry out these experiments, be engaged in collaborations with colleagues in the US and abroad and be exposed to new technologies including cryoEM.