DMMC Course: MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY IN ACTION

1110-1230 Wednesday 9 November 2005. UCD Conway Institute Lecture Theatre

Genomic instability and disease progression
Dr Jacintha O'Sullivan (University College Dublin & St Vincent's University Hospital)

The loss of genomic stability is accepted as being one of the most important aspects of cancer and is thought to be an early event that drives disease progression. This lecture will examine many components involved in genomic instability: telomere length shortening and oxidative damage, DNA repair mechanisms, anaphase bridging/bridge breakage fusion cycles and chromosomal instability. We will discuss the timing and their precise role in driving inflammation and cancer. This will be followed by a review of some of our research projects that closely examine the above processes in ulcerative colitis and colorectal cancer.