Rate My Professor Emmanuel Skordalakes

Skordalakes' laboratory focuses on telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein reverse transcriptase that elongates telomeres, elucidating its catalytic mechanism, regulation by shelterin proteins such as POT1-TPP1, and interactions with accessory factors for length homeostasis. Current efforts include developing small-molecule inhibitors of telomerase and its regulators to target cancers like melanoma, breast, prostate, and lung, which rely on telomerase for proliferation or alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT). His contributions to the field include pioneering structural insights into telomerase components and telomere capping complexes, with research cited over 5,200 times and an h-index of 35. Key publications encompass 'Telomere dysfunction implicates POT1 in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis' (J. Exp. Med., 2022), 'Structural and functional analysis of the human POT1-TPP1 telomeric complex' (Nat. Commun., 2017), 'Structural basis for telomerase catalytic subunit TERT binding to RNA template and telomeric DNA' (Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol., 2010), 'Telomouse—a mouse model with human-length telomeres generated by a single amino acid change in RTEL1' (Nat. Commun., 2023), and 'Structural Basis of Telomerase Inhibition by the Highly Specific BIBR1532' (Structure, 2015). In 2024, he delivered a seminar at VCU on 'Discovery of Cancer Therapeutics Targeting Telomeric Complexes.'