Grant: Project Grant

Akin to a novel written by Margaret Atwood wherein words are elegantly placed to narrate a fascinating story, DNA is the book of life enabling complex organisms to live. One can easily see that if someone hides or remove specific words from a novel, the story will change dramatically. The work proposed in this grant aims at identifying novel mechanisms hiding DNA sequences to change the story of life. If genetics is the area of research interested in studying the impact of gene sequences and their mutations in cancers, epigenetics relates to the study of mechanisms that changes the structure of DNA to hide its DNA sequences from being read by the cell; a novel and emerging area of innovation for the cure of cancers and degenerative diseases. Using a combination of several biophysical approaches, the Couture laboratory proposes to study TONSL, two proteins linked to developmental diseases. Since epigenetic errors are common in diseases such as cancer and aging, the findings stemming from this grant will bring new insights into how epigenetics is regulated and define novel paradigms underlying the sheltering of specific DNA sequences to control life. Consistent with the fundamental roles of epigenetics in human biology, these studies have great potential for new therapeutic avenues for treating aggressive cancers.