Sheila Stewart, PhD

Research Interest

Cellular immortality is one of the defining characteristics of malignant growth. Therefore, understanding how cellular lifespan is controlled at the molecular level is a central theme in the laboratory. The telomere, a DNA-protein structure located at the termini of linear chromosomes, plays a central role in controlling cellular mortality. Therefore, we are particularly interested in understanding how it is maintained. In addition, delineating the signal transduction machinery that is responsible for monitoring the telomere and eliciting modifications of the telomere is of critical importance to understanding how incipient cancer cells obtain immortality.

Education

• 1996: PhD, microbiology and immunology, University of California, Los Angeles

Training

• 1996 - 1998: Postdoctoral fellow, University of California, Los Angeles
• 1998 - 2003: Postdoctoral fellow, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Mass.

Selected Research Publications