One of this year's ESF EURYI award winning projects explores a new line in anti-cancer therapy by blocking the molecular motors involved in copying genetic information during Cell division, which may be used to complement existing cancer therapies.

Dekker is focusing on an enzyme called Topoisomerase IB that plays a key role in some of the molecular motors involved in the processes of DNA and RNA copying during cell division. These are responsible for reading the genetic code and making sure it is encoded correctly in the daughter cell. In healthy cells it is important that this process works normally, but in cancer cells it is a natural target for disruptive therapy. "Specifically targeting these molecular motors in cancer cells would then prevent the cancer cells from growing into a larger tumor," said Dekker.

Read more of Dekker's work from the ESF page and from the research group's page at TU Delft.

Image: A topoisomerase IB enzyme clamps onto a DNA molecule. The enzyme cuts through one of the two strands after which the DNA molecule can spin around in a cavity of the enzyme. Credit: TUDelft/Tremani