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Agnel Sfeir

Agnel Sfeir

Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology

Keywords
cancer, developmental genetics, genome integrity, metabolism, stem cell biology
Summary

The linearity of chromosomes creates two major problems for eukaryotic cells: the end replication problem and the end protection problem. The former stems from the inherent inability of the replication machinery to fully duplicate linear templates. The latter refers to the propensity of linear chromosome ends to be recognized as DNA double stranded breaks. To surmount both problems, cells use telomeres, the specific nucleoprotein complexes that are essential to ensure genomic stability and promote cellular survival. In mammalian cells, telomeres consist of long tracts of repetitive DNA sequences (TTAGGG) that are bound by a specialized six-subunit protein complex termed shelterin. Telomeres are replenished by telomerase, a reverse transcriptase that is active in the germ line and during early embryonic development. Normal human somatic cells lack the activity of telomerase and gradually loose telomeric repeats during progressive division cycles until they ultimately undergo cellular senescence. Our lab is mainly interested in understanding the basic mechanism that leads to telomere length resetting. In particular, we rely on nuclear reprograming as a platform to identify factors that regulate telomere length. A second area of interest to us is to understand how telomere dynamics impact stem cell function and leads to tumorigenesis, using the mouse as a model organism.

Phone

646-501-6742

Academic office

540-562 First Avenue

Fourth Floor

New York, NY 10016

Lab Website
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Fu, Yi; Sacco, Olivia; DeBitetto, Emily; Kanshin, Evgeny; Ueberheide, Beatrix; Sfeir, Agnel

Molecular cell. 2023 Oct 19; 83(20):3740-3753.e9

Oh, Grace; Wang, Annie; Wang, Lidong; Li, Jiufeng; Werba, Gregor; Weissinger, Daniel; Zhao, Ende; Dhara, Surajit; Hernandez, Rosmel E; Ackermann, Amanda; Porcella, Sarina; Kalfakakou, Despoina; Dolgalev, Igor; Kawaler, Emily; Golan, Talia; Welling, Theodore H; Sfeir, Agnel; Simeone, Diane M

Journal of clinical investigation. 2023 Jun 01; 133(11):

Penev, Alex; Markiewicz-Potoczny, Marta; Sfeir, Agnel; Lazzerini Denchi, Eros

Trends in cell biology. 2022 Jun; 32(6):527-536

Barry, Raymond Mario; Sacco, Olivia; Mameri, Amel; Stojaspal, Martin; Kartsonis, William; Shah, Pooja; De Ioannes, Pablo; Hofr, Ctirad; Côté, Jacques; Sfeir, Agnel

Genes & development. 2022 Mar 01; 36(5-6):313-330

Penev, Alex; Bazley, Andrew; Shen, Michael; Boeke, Jef D; Savage, Sharon A; Sfeir, Agnel

Molecular cell. 2021 Jun 03; 81(11):2349-2360.e6

Tigano, Marco; Vargas, Danielle C; Tremblay-Belzile, Samuel; Fu, Yi; Sfeir, Agnel

Nature. 2021 Mar; 591(7850):477-481

Tigano, Marco; Phillips, Aaron Fraser; Sfeir, Agnel

Methods in molecular biology. 2021 Jan; 2192:21-34

Smith, Michael; Querido, Emmanuelle; Chartrand, Pascal; Sfeir, Agnel

STAR protocols. 2020 Dec 18; 1(3):100112