School of Medicine

Research Interests

Dynamics of human telomeric DNA from the standpoints of telomere evolution, the aging process and cancer. Currently we are focusing on the mechanistic basis of telomere erosion, instability and how the loss of telomere function could drive the progression of early-stage neoplasia.

Selected Recent Publications

Capper, R., Britt-Compton, B., Tankimanova, M., Rowson, J., Letsolo, B., Man, S., Haughton, M. and Baird, D.M. The nature of telomere fusion and a definition of the critical telomere length in human cells. Genes and Development 21: 2495-2508 (2007).

Britt-Compton, B., Rowson, J., Locke, M., Mackenzie, I., Kipling, D. and Baird, D.M. Structural stability and chromosome-specific telomere length is governed by cis-acting determinants in humans. Human Molecular Genetics 15: 725-733 (2006).

Baird, D.M., Britt-Compton, B., Rowson, J., Amso, N.N., Gregory, L. and Kipling, D. Telomere instability in the male germline. Human Molecular Genetics 15: 45-51 (2006).

Cheung, I., Schertzer, M., Baross, A., Rose, A.M., Lansdorp, P.M. and Baird, D.M. Strain-specific telomere length revealed by single telomere length analysis in Caenorhabditis elegans. Nucleic Acids Research32: 3383-3391 (2004).

Baird, D.M., Davis, T, Rowson, J, Jones, C.J. and Kipling, D. Normal telomere erosion rates at the single cell level in Werner syndrome fibroblast cells. Human Molecular Genetics13:1515-1524 (2004).

Baird, D. M, Rowson, J, Wynford-Thomas, D. and Kipling, D. Extensive allelic variation and ultrashort telomeres in senescent human cells. Nature Genetics
33: 203-207 (2003).

Selected Projects

Project Name: Project Grant “Telomere dynamics, instability and fusion in CLL – can telomere erosion and fusion drive progression in CLL?”
Funder: Leukaemia Research Fund
Duration: 2008-2011
Value: 181,445

Project name: Senior cancer research fellowship. ‘Telomere dynamics during replicative senescence and early-stage neoplasia’
Funder: Cancer Research UK
Duration: 2005-2011
Value: £1,000,000

Project name: PhD studentship, ‘Telomere dynamics during replicative senescence and early-stage neoplasia’
Funder: Cancer Research UK
Duration: 2006-2010
Value: £103,000