Understanding how changes in DNA secondary structure cause the proteome to age

A research team led by Dr. John Labbadia has been awarded £1.3M by the BBSRC to determine how changes in the formation and resolution of DNA secondary structures across the genome impact the proteome and long-term tissue health.

The work is a partnership between UCL (Dr John Labbadia, Prof. Kostas Thalassinos) and Imperial College London (Dr Marco Di Antonio) and will provide a foundation for the development of molecules that reshape the genome and proteome to promote healthy human ageing.

Image: Crystal structure of parallel quadruplexes from human telomeric DNA. The DNA strand (blue) circles the bases that stack together in the center around three co-ordinated metal ions (green). Credit: Thomas Splettstoesser