The London Research Institute research groups are based at Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Clare Hall. Our major research themes are: the biology of tumours and tissues, cellular regulatory mechanisms and genomic integrity and cell cycle.
Alain Verreault
Because of the high frequency of S-phase cells in tumours, the enzymes involved in nucleosome assembly represent attractive targets for cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy. The Chromosome Dynamics lab, led by Alain Verrault, investigated the factors and processes involved in de novo nucleosome assembly during S-phase.
Proliferating cells replicate and rapidly package their DNA into chromatin during S-phase of the cell cycle. The packaging of DNA into chromatin has important consequences for the accessibility of genetic information during transcription, replication and DNA repair. Nucleosome assembly is an essential pathway that is strongly up regulated during S-phase of the cell cycle. Because of the high frequency of S-phase cells in tumours, the enzymes involved in nucleosome assembly represent attractive targets for cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy.
Alain left the LRI to join the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, University of Montreal in Canada.
Significant LRI Papers
- Masumoto H, Hawke D, Kobayashi R, Verreault A. A role for cell cycle-regulated histone H3 lysine 56 acetylation in the DNA damage response. Nature. 2005;436:294-298 (Abstract)
- Gunjan A, Verreault A. A Rad53 kinase-dependent surveillance mechanism that regulates histone protein levels in S. cerevisiae. Cell. 2003;115(5):537-49 (Abstract)
- Festenstein R, Pagakis SN, Hiragami K, Lyon D, Verreault A, Sekkali B, Kioussis D. Modulation of heterochromatin protein 1 dynamics in primary Mammalian cells. Science. 2003;299(5607):719-21 (Abstract)
