UCL RESEARCH DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS, EVOLUTION AND ENVIRONMENT

Progeroid WRN in DNA instability and ageing

Lynne S Cox

Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford

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Abstract

Ageing is the progressive loss of cell and tissue function with age, resulting eventually in death. Although overall human lifespan is increasing in industrialized nations, this is not matched by increases in healthspan. Diseases of old age are likely to result from defects in cell and tissue function, so defining the process(es) behind cell ageing is critical in attempts to ameliorate the deleterious effects of old age. My lab studies a premature ageing syndrome, Werner’s syndrome, as it recapitulates many features of normal human ageing in an accelerated way, but is cased by loss of function of a single gene, WRN, making it amenable to genetic and biochemical analysis. I will describe our findings on DNA replication defects in human Werner syndrome, and our use of model organisms (flies and worms) to probe the enzyme activity of WRN, including its impact on genome stability and cell division.

All are welcome!

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