Olivia Carlund

I am a biotechnology engineer researching changes in DNA and how it affects humans. I am mainly working with telomeres, which are the end region of the DNA. Telomeres can be compared with the plastic tip on a shoelace: the DNA (shoelace) is protected as long as the telomeres (plastic tip) are intact, but if the telomeres are worn out, the DNA will fray. Frayed DNA is problematic in many ways. For example, it can lead to cancer and premature ageing of the body. This is interesting since cancer cells have eternal life, and premature ageing cells are very old. So how can the exact mechanism (telomere dysfunction) cause such contradictory events in the body? Still don’t know, but aiming to find out!