Center on the Biology of Aging

Audrey Dalgarno is a student in the lab of Professor Nicola Neretti. Her thesis project broadly aims to investigate the shape of the genome in various physiological states, such as cellular senescence. She is applying a new Chromosome Shape Alphabet method, developed in the Neretti lab, which takes inspiration from secondary structures in proteins to identify reoccurring shapes in the 3D genome. She applied this method to HiC data from proliferating and senescent cells and found that the shape of the genome is altered with senescence. She is starting to determine the biological roles of the reoccurring 3D shapes the method identifies. Audrey matriculated in the MCB Program in September 2019 and is currently in her third year in the MCB Program. Her support on this T32 started 07/01/21. Her work has already contributed to one published paper.