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2016 Biochemical Society Summer Vacation Studentship
Shona Cronin (4th year Genetics, UCC) received a 2016 Biochemical Society Summer Vacation Studentship to spend eight weeks in the research group of Dr Kellie Dean, School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology.
Shona was the only applicant from Ireland to receive a studentship out of 42 awardees.
Shona’s project was to create a tethered-RNA system to discover RNA-binding proteins that interact with long, non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in breast cancer. During the project, she successfully established the system and has shown that two proteins which interact with BC200 lncRNA in the nervous system also interact with BC200 in breast cancer cells.
Ongoing research in Dr Dean’s group is focused on identifying the components and roles of RNA-protein complexes in human diseases like cancer, muscular dystrophies and neurodegeneration.
Photo credit: Mary Heapes, School of Biochemistry & Cell Biology.