RESEARCH AT TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY | |
FACULTY PROFILE SYSTEM | |
| Name: | Weihang Chai, PhD |
| Title: | Assistant Professor |
| Department: | Biology |
| Email address: | wchai@mail.twu.edu |
| Description of research activities: Research in Dr. Chai's lab focuses on the regulatory mechanisms for telomere structure and telomere length maintenance in normal human diploid cells and cancer cells. The physical ends of chromosomes, telomeres, play an important role in cellular aging and cancer. They shorten each time a cell divides until the telomere length become so critically short that telomeres become dysfunctional, leading to cell growth arrest. Unlike normal human cells, cancer cells do not exhibit cellular senescence and can proliferate indefinitely. In about 85% of cancer cells, telomere shortening is prevented by expressing telomeres, resulting in restoration of telomere length and indefinite proliferation. Inhibition of telomerase in telomerase-positive cancer cells induces telomere shortening in these cells until cells are unable to deal with the very short telomeres and undergo apoptosis. This strategy has led to the development of telomerase inhibitors for cancer therapy. Dr. Chai uses various molecular biology, cell biology and cytogenetic approaches to analyze telomeres. Useful links: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/features/telomeres/, http://www4.utsouthwestern.edu/cellbio/shay-wright/intro/sw_intro.html | |
| Keywords: Telomere structure, telomerase, genome instability and cancer, molecular biology of aging, cancer stem cells | |
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