Chromosome Dynamics Group

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Ana Losada

Research Scientists

  • Ana Cuadrado

Graduate Students

  • Sofía Cecilia García
  • Ana Rita Marques
  • Inmaculada Sanclemente
  • María Solé
  • Francisco Javier Valero

Technicians

  • Daniel Giménez
  • Miriam Rodríguez

Our research focuses on a protein complex named cohesin that embraces DNA to mediate sister chromatid cohesion, a process essential for chromosome segregation and faithful DNA repair by homologous recombination. Cohesin also plays a major role in the spatial organisation of the genome by promoting long-range DNA looping, which in turn contributes to transcriptional regulation, DNA replication and recombination. Two variant cohesin complexes, carrying either the STAG1 or the STAG2 subunit, are present in all somatic vertebrate cells. While cells require a single complex for viability, both are necessary to fulfill embryonic development. Mutations in cohesin genes, most prominently in STAG2, have been found in several tumour types, including bladder cancer, Ewing sarcoma, and acute myeloid leukaemia. Germline mutations in cohesin and its regulatory factors are also at the origin of developmental syndromes collectively known as cohesinopathies, such as Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS). Our goal is to understand how cohesin works, how it is regulated, and how its dysfunction contributes to cancer and other human diseases.

Publications

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