Abstract

Cell division is a fundamental biological process allowing organisms to grow and develop, to multiply and evolve. The information required for a cell to live and to divide is present in its genome, encoded in the form of DNA . Before each cell division, however, the entire genome needs to be replicated so that a full copy of it can be distributed to each of the two emerging daughter cells. The process of DNA replication is therefore essential to sustain life, but our understanding is still limited.

In this Erasmus seminar, I will address the initiation of DNA replication and focus on the question of where it begins on the human genome. I will discuss our recent experimental work that has led to the identification of specific start sites for DNA replication, of how these sites are specified, and how they can orchestrate the replication of the genome.

Born in Germany, Torsten studied and obtained a PhD from the University of Konstanz. Torsten did a postdoc with Professor Ron Laskey in Cambridge at the Wellcome/CRC Institute (now the Gurdon Institute), became a Research Fellow at Darwin, moved to a tenured position in the Department of Zoology and became an Official Fellow at Darwin.