Salem Nizami

• BSc (Hons) Biochemistry
• Investigating the phosphorylation of Rif1 in DNA Damage Responses to defective telomeres in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae.

The regulation of DNA Damage Response (DDR) pathways is critical for the survival of all higher organisms in response to environmental stresses or ageing. This regulation often involves modifications of the proteins which carry out the necessary functions in the pathways; such as on Rif1 in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae (budding yeast). In this project I will investigate two proteins that may potentially modify Rif1 by phosphorylation. This involves creating gene knockouts; transformed cells lacking the genes coding for these proteins and thus, not expressing them. Rif1 is phosphorylated in response to both DNA and spindle damage (Maringele, unpublished). If these transformed cells contained phosphorylated or unphosphorylated Rif1 under stress conditions, it would show whether or not those proteins are needed for Rif1’s phosphorylation. This will be demonstrated by inducing DNA damage at telomeres of these cells by increasing the temperature and then analysing Rif1 phosphorylation levels (by a technique called Western Blotting).

Funding source: Newcastle University

Supervisor: Dr Laura Maringele