Research Interests

My laboratory is studying the epigenetic aspects of in vitro cellular aging.

As cells age in culture, their telomeres (sequences at the ends of chromosomes that protect them against damage) become shorter. Telomere shortening has emerged as a major candidate for a counting mechanism that determines how many times a cell can divide. However, the way that short telomeres can affect the onset of senescence is not understood.

In our studies, we are using human fibroblast cells to 1) elucidate the mechanism by which telomere length or telomerase (an enzyme that immortalizes cells) regulates p21 protein, DNA MeTase activity and DNA methylation; 2) determine if there is a causal link between decreasing DNA MeTase activity and DNA methylation and cellular aging; and 3) distinguish the changes in gene expression that occur during cellular aging and provide the trigger for cellular senescence.