Grant: Operating Grant

All cells in a multicellular organism contain the same genetic material. Despite this fact, different cell types must carry out different functions. How each cell expresses the required proteins at the correct times and represses unnecessary ones is precisely controlled. Deregulation of this process can result in malfunctioning cells, cell death or uncontrolled growth (cancer). The goal of this research plan is to characterize a family of regulators that are fundamental to cell life and known to suppress tumor formation. Research work including from our laboratory has shown that these regulators (ING's) are at the center of epigenetic (information not contained in the DNA) mechanisms controlling cell growth, stability of the genetic material, stem cell renewal and protection from cancer. Our research plan is to characterize how these regulators function in fundamental processes that govern cell growth and differentiation as well as in conditions leading to cancer formation. This in turn will point us to new scientific approaches in applied research to treat the large number of cancers in which ING proteins do not function properly.