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We all know that our genes hold the information about what makes us us. But how do we access that critical information contained in our DNA? Come to our evening to learn about some of the research happening at the London Institute of Medical Sciences that can give you some answers to those questions.
The Shape of You: How an odd DNA structure might be changing your coding
Ben Lewis
(PhD student, MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences/Imperial College London)
What if I told you that you might have knots in your DNA? It isn't just the code contained in your DNA that matters to how your cells operate - it's also the shape of the DNA itself which influences how your cells are able to read and use that code. We'll find out more about this potentially knotted DNA and discover how it might be possible to untangle the truth about its role and effects inside each of our cells.
To express or not to express: Explosive gene expression and cell-to-cell differences
Irene Robles Robello
(PhD student, MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences)
When a gene is said to be expressed, that means that it is being copied into messenger molecules. However, this process does not occur constantly but in intermittent periods of time called transcriptional bursts. These can lead to massive differences between otherwise seemingly identical cells. Join us and discover how do we image these little explosions of gene expression, what do we know about their control, and what are the consequences of cell-to-cell variability.
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