Research
Our lab studies the control mechanisms which safeguard genomic stability by ensuring once per cell cycle replication in eukaryotic cells and how defects in this control may lead to tumorigenesis. The process of duplication of a cell’s genetic content must be precisely regulated in time and space, and must promptly respond to intracellular and extracellular cues such as DNA damage or differentiation signals. Chromatin associated multi-subunit protein complexes lie at the heart of the temporal and spatial regulation of timely DNA replication. We are interested to understand how these complexes are formed and controlled in the different aspects of the life of normal cells, and how their misregulation may be linked to genomic instability and malignant transformation. To this end, we combine diverse experimental approaches: molecular-cell biology studies in human cells, genetic studies in fission yeast, analyses of tumor specimens, advanced live cell imaging and modelling of biological networks.
Current projects include:
- Dynamic protein complexes controlling DNA replication in time and space: studies by advanced live-cell imaging
- Licensing complexes and the DNA damage response
- The stem cell life cycle
- Idas and Lynkeas, novel regulators of the cell cycle and differentiation in vertebrates.
- Cdt1 and Geminin misregulation in cancer cells and their contribution to tumorigenesis
- Modelling of DNA replication and aberrations leading to genomic instability
- Developing software for advanced live cell imaging