|
I received my B.Sc. (Honors
Biochemistry) from the University of British Columbia. During my
undergraduate studies I was also in the Co-op program, which allowed
me to work in research labs for two 8-month work terms. One of the
work terms was in the Hitt Lab, where I was establishing a new cell
line to allow the growth and propagation of adenoviruses encoding
toxic genes. After finishing my undergraduate degree I decided to
come back to Edmonton for my graduate studies.
My main project is to identify
the role of RNA interference (RNAi) in adenoviral replication.
Adenoviruses encode two small RNA molecules (VA-RNAs) that were
recently found to be processed to viral miRNAs, however, the targets
of these miRNAs are currently unknown. Interestingly, adenoviral
vectors not encoding these VA-RNAs were found to be oncolytic, and
therefore can specifically replicate in certain cancer cells. We
would like to determine the targets of these adenoviral miRNAs and
the reasons why these miRNAs are not required for replication in
cancer cells. |
Selected Poster
Presentations:
1. Sharon, D., Chen,
J., Knafelc, S., and Hitt, M. (2008) RNAi-Induced src
and STAT3 Inhibition Mediated by shRNAs Encoded within
Ad Vectors. Alberta Cancer Research Institute Annual
Meeting. Banff, Alberta.
2. Sharon, D.,
Shamanna, S., and Hitt, M.M. (2007) Construction of an
engineered miR-17 cluster for the inhibition of Src and
STAT3 expression. Keystone Symposia on Molecular and
Cellular Biology: MicroRNA and Cancer. Keystone, CO,
USA.
3. Sharon, D., Agopsowicz, K., Ajaz, M., Sadeghi, H.,
and Hitt, M. (2005) Inhibition of adenovirus-mediated
transgene in 293 cells using the RNAi pathway. Alberta
Cancer Board Annual Meeting. Banff, Alberta
|
