Molecular mechanism and regulatory function of protein coding gene transcriptional termination in mammalian genomes

The enormous facility with which mammalian genomes can be sequenced has outstripped our understanding of gene function in a genomic context. This disconnect between genomics and gene mechanism is especially evident in understanding how gene transcription units are defined. Professor Proudfoot investigates transcription termination – both its basic mechanism and how it acts to regulate gene output. He will combine genomic analysis of nascent transcription with mechanistic studies, and aims to define the class of termination mechanism for each gene in the human genome and understand why termination is defective in cancer. This information will be important to better understand how specific genes are regulated and could ultimately aid more effective cancer therapy.