Phone: (205) 934-4573
E-mail: trygve@uab.edu

Research/Clinical Interest Description: Dr. Tollefsbol''s research is primarily involved with cancer and aging epigenetics, the underlying mechanisms of cancer and aging and novel therapeutic approaches to cancer. This work has also involved translational research on leukemia, breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer and teratocarcinomas as well as other cancers. Recently telomere shortening has been shown to be associated with DNA damage. Located at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes and synthesized by the enzyme telomerase, telomeres maintain the length of chromosomes. Dr. Tollefsbol''s laboratory is interested in the epigenetic regulation of the gene that produces telomerase (hTERT) and in unraveling the mysteries of how this gene relates to cancer and aging. Epigenetic processes are heritable changes that do not involve mutations, but rather, modifications of DNA or its associated proteins and Dr. Tollefsbol''s laboratory is interested in these processes as controllers of telomerase gene expression as well as epigenetic mechanisms in cancer and aging in general. Dr. Tollefsbol''s laboratory is also interested in discovering novel approaches to inhibiting the telomerase gene in cancers as a future gene therapy strategy and the translational potential of green tea and retinoids in inhibiting telomerase in neoplastic cells.