Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

There are numerous cellular mechanisms mediating prevention of the transformation of normal cells into cancer cells. One such mechanism is the p53 tumor suppressor pathway. Modifications to the p53 protein or other players in the p53 pathway can lead to dysregulation of this tumor suppressive mechanism, and in turn drive the development of cancer. One such modification involves the addition of an acetyl group onto the p53 protein structure at one or a combination of specifically marked locations. In this project, we will be studying the role of a specific acetyltransferase enzyme subunit, Naa15 (originally discovered and called Tubedown by the Gendron-Paradis lab), in the dysregulation of the p53 tumor suppressor pathway. We will study how the presence of high levels of Naa15 impacts the p53 pathway. This will be accomplished by assessing the effects of high Naa15 levels in laboratory cell cultures and in tumors collected from aged mice. The results of this investigation will help improve our understanding of how acetyltransferase enzymes are involved in the p53 tumor suppressor pathway. This could be useful in the development of new cancer therapies, as cancer drug development is now shifting towards the targeting of one or a group of specific players in a complex cellular pathway.