Science, but for normal people

Did you know that every cell in your body has genetic material called DNA? You can think of it like a cell’s instruction manual and each cell needs a copy of it to know what to do. Easy, right? I forgot to mention that this manual is 200,000 pages long and needs to get copied within a handful of hours. As you can now imagine, this is a complex process that takes a lot of preparation and careful timing. On top of the quantity of information that needs to be passed on to the next generation, mistakes within the DNA can be the source of many cancers and genetic diseases.

Dr. Allie McClure is a scientist here on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus who runs a research lab in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics focused on learning all about how cells copy this instruction manual to pass down to the next generation of cells. Building upon previous knowledge, Allie’s lab is investigating what happens when things don’t go as planned.  

Allie and her team hope to apply their findings to improve our understanding of how cells overcome problems with copying this information. This type of work is the foundation upon which we can build our knowledge of cancerous diseases and how to prevent them.  

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