Jan Karlseder received his Ph.D. from the Institute for Molecular Biology in Austria and completed postdocs at both the Center for Applied Genetics (Austria) and Rockefeller University. He is currently a Professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and holder of The Donald and Darlene Shiley Chair.

I did my PhD at the Institut Curie, Paris, where I studied telomere replication with Arturo Londono. I then moved to Brussels, Belgium, and worked on TERRA and telomere chromatin in the lab of Anabelle Decottignies. After a few of years enjoying waffles, sour ale and the finest chocolate, I moved to sunny California and joined the Karlseder lab in July 2012. I am currently studying how dysfunctional telomeres are repaired over the cell cycle.

I am originally from Barcelona, and it’s where I carried out my undergraduate studies in Biology at the Universitat de Barcelona. I later moved to Sweden where I did my PhD at Karolinska Institutet in the lab of Maria Falkenberg, about mitochondrial DNA replication. We identified Mitochondrial RNA polymerase as the long sought-after lagging-strand primase in mammalian mitochondria, and we were able to reconstitute DNA replication in vitro from the well-defined origin of replication OriL, using purified human proteins. I joined the Karlseder lab in 2014 where I am studying the link between DNA replication stress and alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), a mechanism used by certain types of tumors to maintain telomere length.

I started with the first class of undergraduates at UCSD in 1964, got hooked on molecular biology in my junior year and have enjoyed doing research ever since. I came to the Salk in 1970 where I learned the basics of tissue culture from Marguerite Vogt and worked with her for 30 years. During that time I helped to develop a working telomerase assay for primary cells and enjoyed reading all the newest telomere papers. So, it seemed like the perfect fit to go to work with Jan Karlseder and to continue with all the exciting telomere research. When I am not involved in solving all the usual lab manager problems you can find me at home in my garden.

I come from Italy where I studied Industrial Biotechnology in the University of Pavia, and then I moved to Spain where I did my PhD in the IUOPA (Instituto Universitario de Oncologia del Principado de Asturias) in the Maria Dolores Chiara Romero’s Lab. In my PhD I was studying in the molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of a rare tumors: the head and neck paragangliomas. I moved to California and joined the Karlseder lab in January 2015.

Rob earned his B.Sc. in Pharmacology from University College Dublin with 1st class honors. Continuing with his postgraduate education at the Conway Institute, U.C.D. as part of the Renal Disease Research Group, Rob’s research focused on the development ofin vitro assays and predictive models to detect chemical carcinogenesis in the kidney. This work was carried out as part of the carcinoGENOMICS project. Rob was also particularly interested in the role that the primary cilium plays in chemical carcinogenesis.

Rob joined the Karlseder lab in February of 2012 and is currently interested in developing novel ways to visualize telomere structure.

Teresa obtained her PhD in Molecular Biology at the Spanish National Cancer Centre (CNIO) in Madrid, where she studied the regulatory mechanisms that ensure efficient chromosome segregation in Xenopus, such as centromeric identity maintenance, cohesion and spindle assembly. She joined the Karlseder laboratory in February 2011, where she has been investigating the dynamic regulation of telomeric chromatin in stem cells.

Juancar first pursued his studies in Chemistry and then in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine. Finally he completed his PhD in June of 2014 in the Laboratory of Renal Physiopathology at Gregorio Maranon University Hospital in Madrid under the supervision of Alberto Lazaro. The aim of his work consisted of demonstrating that cilastatian, a DHP-I renal enzyme competitive inhibitor, was able to prevent from gentamicin-induced acute renal failure without compromising its bactericidal efficiency. Juancar finally joined the Karlseder group in March 2015.