Research Interests

Current research interests of the Cohen Lab are focused primarily on elucidation of the biological role(s) of nucleotide repeat expansions in DNA.

Expansion of gene regions containing nucleotide repeats (NRs) has a causal role in a variety of inherited degenerative neurological diseases, including Huntington’s Disease, certain spinocerebellar ataxias and muscular dystrophies, and some types of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia. A major area of investigation in our Lab is study of mechanisms that selectively enable transcription through expanded NR regions in human genes. We also study the actions of abnormal mRNAs and proteins generated by such repeats, and efforts in the Lab are aimed at treating these diseases by targeting expression of the abnormal genes. And we investigate mechanisms that underlie the occurrence of nucleotide repeats in the telomeres of chromosomes.