Madison Rex, a 5th year MD-PhD student, has been awarded an NIH F30 fellowship grant. This grant will support Madison's research with her mentor Agnel Sfier at Gerstner Sloan Kettering. Her project is titled "Investigating the chromatin landscape of ALT telomeres."
Madison explains that this research "focuses on alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), a telomerase-independent mechanism of telomere elongation that occurs in 10-15% of cancers. The mechanisms by which ALT is induced and maintained in cancer cells remain unknown. The goal of my project is to examine the chromatin dynamics at ALT-positive telomeres, investigate how chromatin state impacts ALT, and assess the potential of leveraging this knowledge for ALT-positive tumor treatments."
Congratulations Madison!