PROMOTING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BETWEEN INDIA AND THE U.S.
Cancer Research, Molecular Biology
The initiation of DNA replication in eukaryotic cells is a highly regulated process that leads to the duplication of genetic information for the next cell generation. DNA replication, which occurs during S phase of the cell cycle, is intimately linked to mitotic progression and eventually cell division. Inaccurate DNA replication in turns leads to abnormal chromosome segregation resulting in aneuploidy and genomic instability, a hallmark of most cancerous cells. Thus the accurate duplication of DNA is of paramount importance and is governed by a number of proteins including the Origin Recognition complex (ORC) which serves as a landing pad for the assembly of a multiprotein pre-replicative complex. Other than its bonafide role in DNA replication, ORC proteins are involved in diverse functions including gene silencing, heterochromatin organization, cytokinesis and also in dendrite formation in postmitotic neurons. The focal point of research in my lab is to study the events and uncover the cues that integrate DNA replication with heterochromatin organization, chromosome segregation and cytokinesis, major focus being on the role of ORC in interconnecting these events.