Dalhousie University Department of Surgery
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
My name is Dr. Kathleen Attwood, I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Dr. Adrienne Weeks at Dalhousie University, Department of Surgery. I completed my BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Victoria and my PhD also in Biochemistry at Dalhousie University investigating the role of nuclear architecture in DNA repair. My current research in the Weeks lab focuses on the integrated stress response in glioblastoma, specifically with an interest in stress granules. Stress granules are small non-membrane bound cytoplasmic accumulations of non-translating mRNA and RNA binding proteins that form in response to a variety of stressors. During times of cellular stress, these granules allow cells to temporarily prioritize translation of stress-related proteins and thereby aid cells in mounting an effective stress response. We believe that disrupting the balance of stress pathways by altering stress granule dynamics (formation and dissolution) may have therapeutic potential for glioblastoma.
