Pali Verma
Eskitis Institute for Cell and Molecular Therapies
Griffith University, Qld
The Basil Shaw Scholarship
Rotary Club of Toowong
Cancer Genome 2011
Pali Verma obtained her Masters degree in Biotechnology in 2004 from the University of Abertay Dundee, Scotland. Her thesis investigated the modulation of immune system by p65 and TNF receptors at the word renowned Roslin Institute. After moving to Australia, Pali has been involved with various research laboratories and teaching activities. She has been a lecturer and course co-ordinator for Functional Molecular Genetics at QIBT thus developing early research and teaching skills. Additionally, Pali has been a student representative for Research Higher Degree students at the Eskitis Institute for Cell and Molecular Genetics thus testifying her leadership qualities. With the help of the Rotary Health Basil Shaw scholarship, Pali is pursuing her Doctoral degree at Griffith University on her project entitled “Role of Nol6 in ribosomal biogenesis and cancer”. Her project has won many oral and poster prizes, including a poster prize at the internationally recognised Lorne Genome conference. Her project also won the International travel grant offered by Cancer Therapeutics CRC (CTx), which enabled her to showcase her work at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories in New York.
Pali has also been actively involved as a volunteer with the National Breast Cancer Foundation. In her hometown, she is a third generation Rotarian and has been involved with her Rotarian grand-father since the age of 12 in community services bringing health related awareness and education to the less fortunate.
SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT:
Role of Nol6 in ribosomal biogenesis and cancer
NRAP (NOL6), a novel nucleolar-RNA associated protein, which is highly conserved from yeast to humans, has been implicated to have a role in ribosomal biogenesis. Ribosome biogenesis is central to all cellular activities, including normal cell cycle progression. Nrap was also observed to co-localise with nucleolar tumor suppressor and oncogene proteins B23 and p19ARF.
Moreover, it has been demonstrated that these three nucleolar proteins can co-immunoprecipitate together as a complex. Previously, B23 and p19ARF have been demonstrated to alter cell cycle progression in tumor cells. Not surprisingly, on knocking down the expression of Nol6 by siRNA, our studies on cell cycle have shown that the normal progression of the cell cycle is de-regulated. In line with the finding that Nol6 is responsible for ribosomal biogenesis and also cell proliferation, expression studies have revealed that it is highly up-regulated in murine breast tumor tissues.
In this project, we hypothesise that Nol6 plays a critical role in ribosomal biogenesis and hence cell cycle progression and this activity is facilitated by its interactions with B23 and p19ARF. Furthermore, we hypothesise that over-expression of Nol6 increases the rate of ribosome biogenesis and can stimulate pathways leading to tumor formation. Moreover, the functions within the nucleolus are targets for cancer therapies. This project explores the potential role of Nol6 in new anti-cancer therapies.