Olasubomi Akintola

• BSc (Hons) Biotechnology
• Does telomerase expression in fibroblasts induce MnSOD under serum withdrawal?

The enzyme telomerase maintains the ends of chromosomes-telomeres, which are protective structures.  However, it recently emerges that telomerase has additional non-telomeric functions.  We and others found that telomerase partially resides in cellular powerplants-mitochondria- where it protects its function and decreases oxidative stress.  However, the mechanism is poorly understood.  We recently found that an important mitochondrial enzyme (superoxide dismutase) is induced when telomerase is present in cells and these are grown without serum. In this project we want to confirm this finding in different telomerase positive and negative cell pairs.  That could help to better understand the protective function of telomerase.

Funding source: Newcastle University